>> happy new year, everybody. how did you ring in 2014? 10:00 is the new midnight for me. as the world marked january 1st, revellers in times square, they saw sonia sotomayor drop the famed crystal ball. hours earlier she ruled against an obamacare requirement. we will talk about that and have the latest on barbara bush's condition after being admitted to a texas hospital. it's a live human being. let's look at the celebrations across the world. we will bring it to you starting

with the cross roads of the world. at 30 rock, one million people braved subfreezing temperatures to watch the ball drop. obamacare ruling was not the only thing that kept sotomayor busy. pushing the ceremonial button to start the count down. the crowd erupted in cheers and if you had someone you liked next to you, the smoocthers aftr the ball reached midnight. speaking of over the top, we go beyond new york. it was an unprecedented display in the city of dubai. this is known for the glamour and everything huge including the tallest skyscraper on the planet set another record. it's amazing to watch. they put on the largest fireworks show ever according to

guinness. the 30-minute display featured a half million fireworks launched from 400 different places synchronized by 100 computers. incredible. big ben helped londoners usher in the new year with their own display, but the celebration much more than sight and sounds. how about smell? it included peach-flavored snow and confetti and orange-scented bubbles that came down. anyway, in paris, of course you have to have your champagne. you are in france. they watched the flashing aisle tower. in some ways that might be cooler than new york. let's go to berlin where hundreds of thousands gathered in 2014. police had to close the gates to

the party about three hours before midnight. let's go to greece, one of the most iconic spots in the world. the acropolis. taking over the revolving presidency of the european union. in russia, tens of thousands packed the red square to enjoy the fireworks. as might imagine, security tight in the aftermath of the two suicide bombings. let's go to south america. rio dejaneiro, i never have been there, but they did not disappoint. they put on the fireworks display at the copa ka baba beach. >> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. happy new year! >> thousands gathered in key west to watch the drag queen known as sushi knob. she has done it for 16 years in

a row. should i say he presided over that celebration? on the other end, the partygoers watched a conch shell drop to countdown the new year. finally in a much more subdued level, pope francis presided over new year's mass offering words of strength, courage, and hope as the world begins a new year. that was a good whip around what happened across the world. hope you are awake or getting ready for bed after you watch this. restaurants and bars in the big apple, they cast in big time looking to ring in the new year. you want an example? how about applebees where you can get two meals for $20. they go high end once a year and charge $375 a person for the new

year's eve bash. $250 for little kids. you won't forget it. first, happy new year. thanks for getting up with us. what do you get for $375? >> not your standard two for $20 meal. an unlimited buffet with serious culinary folks if are this. not the regular chefs. a premium open bar, more on the top shelf side. a d.j. and dancing and they cleared out space for people to boogie. they let you out to see the ball drop. >> can you see when you get out? >> theoretically, yes. we were not able to get word how it played out. they couldn't guarantee it because you are at the mercy of

the police department. they can't guarantee the ball drop, but they will keep you warm and well fed and liquored up. >> the biggest take away yesterday is once you are down there, you can't go to the bathroom. i think that's worth the access to the restroom. >> that's what's going on. applebee's was not alone. tgi friday's had a deal starting at $225. they had the four and five-digit price tag. it was cold last night. if you do times square, to get a good spot, you have to get there between new and 3:00 p.m. applebee's was not alone. when you add in the food and the liquor, it's maybe not a bad deal and the title use the restroom. it's about $300 more than you

would spend at applebee's. >> some people prefer being on the couch rather than the game. do they sell out? >> they did sell out. they got a lot of publicity, but they do usually sell out every year. >> is it a worthwhile value proposition? >> i'm split about this. the fact that they can't guarantee you will see the ball drop, in one sense they will be warm and well-fed, but if you were there and can't see the ball drop and they can't guarantee it removes the bucket list aspect. >> in general, when i came in here this morning, times square was already clear. it's amazing the job the city does. is it a huge economic impact or something they feel like they need to do to carry on the tradition? >> what happened in new york is those of us in the city, times

square is a giant playground or theme park with all these restaurants and this is just part of it. they know they are going to raise the prices. everybody participates. it has to be a huge boost. >> do you think the people are craze tow do it? maybe i'm too old, but it passed me by. jennifer is done with it too. i can't imagine that right now. >> i could not imagine spending nine hours there and i couldn't imagine spending $300 to eat at applebees. but if it's on the bucket list, it's on the bucket list. >> we appreciate it. >> let's go on to news and serious news about former first lady barbara bush. she is in a texas hospital and a statement from the office of the hospital, george hw bush. she is being treated for a respiratory-related illness and was admitted to the hospital on

monday. she is in great spirits and we all wish her well and a speedy recovery. >> russian president putin met with wounded victims of a bombing and placed red roses at the site of a second bombing of a trolley bus. it killed at least 34 people. no one has officially claimed responsibility for either attack. it raised security concerns as we all know russia prepare to host the 2013 olympics just next month. just hours before the president's health care law took effect, for millions of americans, sonia sotomayor blocked a controversial part of the law. we will have details next. the first major snowstorm of the year taking aim at the north eastern part of the country. we will get the forecast and the nation's first recreational pot

shops open in colorado. car are it's a much older clientele. you have lawyers and doctors and people you wouldn't assume or think smoke marijuana. >> you might think it's a funny story, but there serious implications. we will talk about the impact the shops will have on colorado's tourism industry. we'll will have a live report later in the show.

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another year of political battle and a roll out defined by mistakes and delays. millions of americans will begin receiving coverage under the health care law. no issue will go further to define president obama's legacy. according to the administration, 2.1 million americans have signed up for the plans through

federal and state insurance exchanges. the drama that plagued the roll out doesn't seem to let up. hours before she led the countdown from the ball drop, supreme court justice sonia sotomayor blocked the administration from providing contraceptive coverage and has given the government until friday morning to respond. partnership new year, guys. thanks for getting up. no worse for the wear. let's start with you. how big of a deal is this? is there a precedent to be set some. >> it's a medium small deal. this aspect of it, whether contraception falls under affordable care is a hard fought issue and something that a relatively small percentage of people care about. 85% of catholics use

contraception. it's a philosophical and ideological idea with the right. >> she is more of a left leaning judge. >> she is catholic. >> what is going to happen? i don't understand how this is going. >> there will be an argument in front of the court that will debate whether this injunction is in place until friday morning. whether it lasts and how long it lasts and they say it shouldn't exist. this is the most short temporary minor fix. >> we talk about fixes and we have seen so many changes to the health care law already. we are in 2014. as we look ahead, do you expect a lot more changes as coverage begins and they have to work in with doctors and insurance

companies? what's going to happen with 2014 and the law? >> it will be a testament as people go to the doctors and the hospitals. make sure they see if they are covered and they are a little bit worried that people will show up and go to the doctors and it won't be covered under their plans. at this point it's not about the fixes. it's about the actual effort practice of whether six million people are getting health care signed up and whether it's working. >> do you think it will get easier as the year goes on or will we continue to have this negative story to deal with with people? >> it's going to get a lot easier or a lot harder for people. this is when the law is rolling out, whether people are getting the health care that is promised them. if the law is working and the affordable care act is delivering on the promises it's made. then it will pursue smoothly.

if there is continued problems, it's bigger. >> it's hard to imagine it will get that much harder. everybody is nervous about their medical care yet there is no service being done. for a lot of people, i'm paying less than i'm used to. >> when i talk about the 2014 mid-terms, i was exhausted by the concept of talking about this for another year. it's very nuanced. the republicans can't argue to repeal it. it's here. how do they frame the debate and the democrats had to -- mary landrieu and others have distanced themselves, but what if it's a positive story and how will they message and deal with it? a lot of people think they should get on the offensive.

it's a nuance even though we don't know about the coverage. >> the republican strategy will find everything that is bad about it and blast it. find the person who is suffering and make them an american conservative. they will say yeah, but on balance, most people will do better. >> i want to switch over to nsa for a second and i will start with you. the conversation about snowden, put aside recommendations and what obama is going to do. what is the sentiment? i get the sense that some feel it will be the status quo. >> it will be interesting. my colleague at the daily beast reported that obama worked through the recommendations that he thinked about and 3/4 can be adopted easily and spending time trying to figure out in what can

be done with the fighting that will result. there is push back from a number of agencies, especially the fbi. this is one of the defining issues of the obama admin addition station where they didn't expect. health care had something coming up and iraq and nsa and spying. that's the implications of this decision. >> they don't want to be involved and hold on, but they don't want to lead around and the government has to profit. >> there is a growing agreement left and right. we need some kind of process, something more than the courts. some actual procedure where the government said hey, this is something we need to do. give us analysis and the privacy people a chance to make the case about why it's so bad. we haven't had that from now. >> it's funny because i think it was michael hay and the former

nsa director who said you criticize it when nothing happens and the second something happens, you want to give them all the information possible. >> the public is unfolding. >> appreciate it, guys. thanks for coming in. happy new year, guys. good insight here on msnbc. >> 2014 off to a frigid and snowy start in a lot of parts of the country. the highs are 25 to 35 below normal in terms of degrees. we will have the forecast next. all those people stuck on a ship in the antarctic are still stuck. we will update when they may get back to dry and unfrozen land. a] this is the story of the little room over the pizza place at 315 chestnut street. the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the dusty basement at 1406 35th street.

it is the story of the old dining room table at 25th and hoffman avenue. the southbound bus barreling down i-95. ...and the second floor above the strip mall at roble and el camino. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. ♪ so different and so new where those with endless vision and an equal amount of audaciousness believed they had the power to do more. time and time again. ♪ and then, it happened at dell, we're honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. stories that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- # 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪

>> it's a bitter cold start with temperatures above and barely

above it elsewhere. in addition, got snow falling in the central third of the country and that storm is headed for the east coast where it's expected to hit new york and boston overnight tonight. we will have more on that in a moment. we go to kevin tibbles. you have a good hat on. how cold is it? >> i thought i was supposed to be the guy traps on the ship in antarctica for weeks. >> you have food. >> that's true. listen, it's january. so they tell me. it snowed. basically everything is good as far as i can see. we got a fair amount of snow, a half foot overnight. that caused a bit of chaos at the airports here, but i can report to you on a regular sunny 70 degree day it's chaos at the airports here. for the revellers and people

like that, last night was probably a little bit rougher than it could have been. the good news is that chicago does this thing every year as to a number of cities in north america. they put on the old one-cent bus ride to make sure people left the cars at home and people got home by public transportation. just east of us in the big house, they are getting ready for the massive outdoor hockey game that will take place on nbc. if the weather there will be nippy as well and we will have over 100,000 people go at it there today. i feel for everyone who will be sitting out there and i hope they have their wooleys on. >> maybe an old style flash. kevin, here's a dose of sarcasm. we wish you a happy new year.

>> all the best, guys. >> most of you don't have to work in chicago. let's bring in bill. >> that was bitter. >> he's funny. all i care about, we have way too early tomorrow and friday morning. do i need to tell my wife? >> it would be nice if we had a snow day for way too early. >> i have to know, am i going to sleep on willie's couch some. >> it's a double pull out. >> we will be spooning. >> i don't think willie would allow that. let me get into the forecast. we are dealing with the snow and the cold. we have two areas of light snow. over detroit and cleveland and a drive along the lakeshore and it's slick. we have the snow and it's the main show in nebraska and iowa. that will become the larger storm. the cold air is in play.

they pulled up an area of new york city. there is that light snow in toledo. how much snow will we get when it's all said and done? this is the snowfall map for you. you got some of this last night and you will get more today and tomorrow. five to seven for you. somewhere around two to four. the stripe of pink is 6-12. northern ohio valley and along i-90 through the mass pike. we upped the totals especially from boston to providence to hartford area. snowfall forecast, midwest in cleveland. detroit four to eight. desmoin 2-4. when we get to the big cities, it's a light east flow. still significant. the windy conditions and we get a lot of blowing and drifting. it will blow light back over on the roads.

friday morning the roads will be treacherous as the snow is ending. cape cod and each at hartford. it will be until midnight. about 4 to six inches and less. d.c. will see a little bit of snow, but nothing significant for them. eastern new england, they are used to it. i still think a lot of schools if they are not already canceled because of the break will be canceled friday morning. >> it's cold enough for that. we tested it out. >> rusty? >> no. >> not yet. >> my 6-year-old is struggling a little bit. thank you, bill. let's go on to other cold news that has to do with ice and rescue efforts on hold for the passengers aboard the trip trapped in thes a off antarctica. weather conditions are preventing a helicopter from air living them out from an ice

breaker. they have been stuck there for more than a week. they are not letting the situation dampen holiday spirits. we know they are getting a little bit stir crazy and having cabin fever. they are singing a new year's song. they posted it on you tube overnight. they are making the best of it. coming up on this new year's day edition of msnbc -- >> i want to thank you for having brought us to this moment. >> bill deblasio sworn in as mayor of new york city, the first democrat to occupy city hall in more than two decades. he is set to take the oath from a former president of the united states. what will be the movers and shakers of 2014. the people to watch in the new year. we will look at the people to watch.

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new york city mayor bill deblasio was sworn in just after midnight. >> i, bill deblasio do solemn blee swear i will support the constitution of the united states. >> deblasio is new york city's 109th mayor. a ceremony will take place at noon where former president bill clinton will swear in the mayor. here was his first message as mayor. >> i want to say to all of you how grateful we are on the beginning of our family together, reaching out to the people of the city to make a change that we all needed. i want to thank you for having brought us to this moment. >> a lot of people will watch what happens in new york in 2014. let's talk about who are the most interesting to watch. it may be two years until the

iowa caucus, but last year the jockeying kicked into high gear and no moves will be more closely scrutinized than hillary clinton's. issue number one, a 1.3 million americans who lot of unemployment insurance on saturday. on tuesday she weighed in tweeting years ago i was proud to work on bipartisan efforts to save unemployment insurance. let's do it again quickly in this new year. >> reporter of politico and nbc political editor. kudos to you for coming out this morning. you guys look good and solid. a late night for you. let's get down to business with hillary. i will start with you, katie. what if anything would get in the way of her marching and to running in 2016. >> 2014, we are talking about

movers and shakers. this will be a pivotal year for her. this will be the year where she begins to think seriously in her words, about perhaps pursuing the next presidential steps. they said if she wants it, if she will clear the field on the democratic nominating side. we are already seeing quite a bit of scrutiny for public appearances and you know that tweet and that enjat rated a lot of trust. we can expect to pick up as we move into the next year and continues thinking about the next steps. >> we recall 2007 and 2008 and how such a fate completes her. some people talk about benghazi. is there anything on the large scale that could be an issue for her? >> the only thing we don't see is a barack obama behind her. everyone was talking about this

guy, barack obama who had an outside shot and in a few years he could be somebody who could run. she doesn't have that issue. the only thing that derails her is she looks like she's go unless there is an issue with her health. when we saw her earlier this year, she had the concussion and she is getting older. if there is health-related, that's the only thing that could derail her, but she will be laying the ground work for a 2016 bid. >> barack obama had a strong win in the election and a difficult year. his approval ratings are at the lowest of his presidency. he's a mover and shaker for 2014, but what are the keys to a turn around for him? immigration or something to do with jobs or with the unemployment benefits and the aca? what is the key? >> it's not that complicated.

it's all about health care. one of the pollsters works on the democratic side and said as health care goes, so goes the obama pedestrian. whether or not the law is working appropriately and if there is still hiccups. if the law is righted, president obama's numbers will improve with the base in particular. that's penitentiary to get back to that 47 or 48%. if not, he is going have a difficult time in the second term. >> john boehner, i was fascinated when he came back at the end of the budget deal. immigration is something the house has to deal with. his role, whether he will be able to strengthen his grip on the house or is he still going to be calling the tea party? he ended this past year on a very difficult note. he took a tough line on to the

groups. it will be very interesting to see as we move forward on the other bipartisan associations and whether that's something he turns to again. if he does in fact pursue that tougher approach to the outside groups again and what that ends up doing build his stature within his own caucus in the house. >> i want to talk about the pope. it's amazing how much we talked about pope francis last year. it's impressive just the discussions that we had. i will start with you, do min coe. is it going to have a practical impact on whether it's income and equality that clearly has gotten the attention of the people here in the united states or sonia sotomayor's decision and whether it's contraception and 85% of catholics use it. is he going to get involved in

the debates? >> he's a fascinating guy, no doubt about that. i wonder how far the influence will go as far as american politics go. catholics are split and they don't vote in the same way and more along party lines and personally than with the church. that said, i wonder with the contraception debate, if he pulls back a little bit of the church's emphasis on birth control, for example. what that would mean for the push by some conservatives in the catholic church on not wanting to cover birth control in the affordable care act. i think there lessons for the republican party and how to brand themselves. the way that francis talked. the problem for the republican party is they don't have the policies that the catholic church does. they are socially conservative in many ways, but socially liberal in a lot of other

teachings. >> a lot of things that the people don't look at, it's not like he changed the church docket lynn. let's change the way we talked about this stuff. across the board, we can take it here. we appreciate you getting up early for us on new year's day. >> let's go to detroit. you know it's bankrupt. former medical center chief mike dug an will be sworn in and plans to hit the ground running. even though it's new year's day, he plans to hold meetings at city hall. he will be limited in his powers since the city's finances are not controlled by the pointed emergency management. wall street, they closed at record highs. the s&p's biggest jump in 16 years. the dow 18 years. will the good times continue to roll down wall street? 2014. we will talk to cnbc contributor

ron insana. some people are turning on online therapy as a way to cope with loneliness and depression in the holiday season. we will have details on that.

. >> per despite a government shut down and a nasty fight over the debt ceiling, wall street is on a roll. stocks ended 2013 at record highs yesterday with the dow jones up almost 27% for the year and the s&p up almost 30. the biggest increase since 1997. the nasdaq has a better mix than it used to. a 38% gain, the best in four years. joining me is cnbc contributor, ron insana. you feel like the conventional wisdom is what goes up must come down. is it going to keep going?

it has to come back. >> it does, but not necessarily right away way. 2014 might be a bit of a transitional year. this market has gone 500 days without a 10% correction. it could be vulnerable to a pull back. 2013 was like peyton manning. a little old and great numbers and set a lot of records. 2014 will not be eli manning, but maybe something more like more stable and occasionally volatile environment. >> i don't have the experience that you go back to the early days of financial television. i got to see in the summer of 2007. >> the at peak. >> they have reports when the dow hit 14,000 and the question i put to the world when is it going to hit 15,000. there was a sense of euphoria. it is totally different. most people you meet in parts of

america is they don't even have an involvement here. is the wealth effect having an impact and are the people involved in this? >> the individual investor has not participated. the market is up 160% since the bottom on march 9th of 2009 at the depths of the crisis. >> they know what happened before. >> there is a post traumatic stress syndrome. two doubles between the internet and real estate and credit that happened in 2007. that really burned people. they are once burned twice shy. they sat this out and 95% of the gains approved of the top 1% of the households. they are not participating. the economy is getting better. >> it's funny because it gets into the income and equality which they had quite a bit here.

out of the things with the housing that we talked about markets that are above the peaks in the stock market at record highs. of all the things that are inflated, which concerns you the most? >> i'm not so concerned about real estate because the marks were not the markets in the bubble. with the exception of manhattan. that's always at the peak level. that happens. it's kind of a unique area. i'm not that concerned about the stock market and there signs of flaws that would warrant correction of 10 to 20%, sometime in the next year. i don't see the type without a lot of public participation, it's hard to have a bubble by definition that sucks everybody in. you thought your house would go up for the next 10 or 15 years. you saw on the internet stock, that would go up forever. we don't see that. >> i don't want to go inside

baseball. you had the federal reserve that made it easy on the macro level to get money. we have 4% growth. is the economy ready to stand on its own? >> it's getting there. if you look at the strong areas prospering away from actions and the energy sector and manufacturing coming back to the united states and technological innovation, those three pointers or stools or legs of the stool are strong and will continue to be strong. real estate, corporate profits and banking, wall street, all of those are dependent on the fed. the fed will start tapering this year and interest rates may move up a little bit. the economy gathers steam and more and more is likely to stand on their own, barring a big surprise. something crazy outside the country. you more constructively and

positive? >> we are in a period called fortress america. this will be increasingly stand alone and self-sufficient, but after five years of a roaring bull market, it wouldn't be surprising to see 2014 as a transitional year. it might be an upset in the stock market. >> good to see you. in you just over an hour, the first legal pot sales will begin in the state of colorado. details on what to skpeexpect a who the buyers will be. ould nots make the cut ♪ ♪ no need to chuck, donate or burn them ♪ ♪ just pack them in our flat rate box ♪ ♪ we'll come to your door and return them ♪ ♪ gifts you bought but never gave away ♪ ♪ or said you liked but thought were cheesy ♪ ♪ you don't even need to leave your house ♪ ♪ we'll come and take them, easy-peasy ♪ [ female announcer ] no one returns the holidays like the u.s. postal service.

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8:00 a.m. local time. just over an hour from now, retail sales of marp for recreational use can begin. the first state in the union to allow that. it's being closely watched as you might imagine. live from a store in denver

where pot will be sold and they are calling it green wednesday. >> hey there, brian. they are calling it green wednesday and the lines are not exactly black friday length or anything like that. there were several people here a few minutes ago and a couple of them have gone in their cars because it's chilly outside. it's a fear here. we heard acoustic guitar playing. there is pot donuts and funnel cakes for sale. this is a huge day in colorado. 8:00 a.m. local time, recreational legal pot sales will begin. the group that was behind the initiative that brought this legal pot to colorado, they will hold it shortly and designated the first official buyer in the state. he's an iraq war veteran with post traumatic stress disorder that is not covered by the law.

we expect it to get under way in about an hour. how many people will show up and will the supply last? >> people obviously from the store, is there any concern or discussion? is this against federal law? is there talk about the federal perspective? >> certainly. there is a very complicated story from the federal level. yes, this is still against federal law, but federal government has said here in colorado, they are not going to prosecute the crime for now. people are taking a wait and see approach. many advocates worry this will attract the wrong type of people to colorado and the wrong tourists. the wrong type of students to the state's well-known universities and they worry about drivers on the road under the influence of marijuana.

they have a lot of questions about drug trafficking as well to other states and they are worried as well. >> operating under the influence say serious concern. we appreciate that. happy new year from colorado. while we are welcoming in the new year, for some the holidays bring on depression and loneliness. a lot of people turn to traditional therapy, but some found the path to happiness online. >> it's the most wonderful time of the year. for some the holidays can be a downer. david buyers is one of those people. >> something inside me. >> buyers is a dad and went through a tough divorce years ago and said afterwards the holidays brought on feelings of loneliness. he decided to do something. a search led him to a website called pathway to happiness.com.

it's like online therapy offering materials to read, podcasts and audio and phone centers aimed at people like him to get his back on track. >> it changed my life. i will be happy with that being full than the relationship is going to work. now i have something to give and something to offer. >> this is the man behind pathway to happiness.com. he said his website gets a million hits a year with a 20% uptick after the holidays and many people find him by googling the word happiness. >> there is a lot of stress over the holidays that people say i'm going to do something like this. it's the stress of being a family and the stress of being alone. >> not a licensed therapist, he said he is more like a life coach. >> while there is a similarity with therapists, we are trying

to get people out of the emotional drama and into a happy and healthy emotional setting. >> people are turning to the internet for therapy and a study found online therapy can be just as effective as conventional treatment. michael cain is a licensed clinical social worker. >> i see the internet as a resource, both traditional psycho therapy and internet therapy. >> i had gone online and googled i think i may have googled happiness or finding happiness. >> she say mental health professional herself and was skeptical, but gave it a chance and she is glad she did. >> i feel what it did was increased a lot of self awareness and induced a sense of

mindfulness and behind speech and action and also reaction. i feel -- i would say i'm happy. >> that was kristen welker. the coach said they need to manage expectations. enjoy the small things and don't expect to feel eilated in every moment. he acknowledges that it's not the right fit for everyone, but for everyone, i want to wish you a happy new year. good morning on the east coast or late night on the west coast. i will be back here in an hour. richard louie will have a look at the strangest new laws that go into effect in 2014 and the latest on the big winter storm expected to spread snow from the upper midwest to the east coast. stay with us at msnbc. ♪ yeah, he's clean, boss. now listen to me, duck. i have an associate that met with, uh, an unfortunate accident.

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. right now sonia sotomayor

puts a halt to an obamacare requirement. parts of the country in the grips of a cold snap as the northeast braces for a winter storm. er president will swear in a new york mayor. we will start with the celebrations around the world. an estimated one million people braved subfreezing temperatures to watched the famed ball drop in times square. sonia sotomayor was busy pushing the button to start the count down. >> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. >> the crowd erupted into cheers and lots of smoothers. the 12,000 pound crystal laced ball reached midnight and speaking of over the top -- know

unprecedented fireworks show in dubai. the persian gulf city known for glitz, glamour and everything big. including the world's tallest skyscraper set another record. it put on the world's largest fireworks show ever. the dazzling 30-minute display featured a half million fireworks launched from 400 locations synchronized by no less than 100 computers. big ben helped londoners. a grand display and the celebration was more than sights and sounds. how about tastes and smell. it included peach-flavored snow, banana congety and orange bubbles raining down on revellers. i want to see the pictures. then in paris, no celebration would be complete without the bubbly. the crowds gathered to watch the

flashing eiffel tower countdown the new year. we take you to berlin in hundreds of thousands gathered to welcome 2014. the crowd is so big, the police closed the gates to the party about three hours before midnight and then greece welcomed the new year at one of the most iconic spots in the world near the acropolis in athens. they took over the resolving presidency of the european union. tens of thousands in moscow's red square. security was extremely tight in the aftermath of the two suicide bombings last weekend. then rio dejaneiro known for the parties certainly. they didn't disappoint. they put on a fireworks display at the copa cabana beach. >> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. happy new year! >> that's always the site.

the drag queen known as sushi dropping in her red super sized stiletto. this is the 16th year in a row sushi presided over this celebration. they watched a conch shell drop to the countdown to the new year. they were noisy in boise ringing in the new year by dropping that. eye aurp si a super sized idaho potato. the giant spud measured about 16 feet in length. pope francis presided over new year's mass. he offered words of strength, courage, and hope as the world begins a new year. the world doing it a bunch of different ways. it's a bitter cold start and the northern plains and upper midwest, they are well below zero and barely above elsewhere. snow is falling in the central

third of the country headed for the east coast and expected to hit new york and boston overnight tonight with a foot or more of snow expected in some areas. get ready for that. kevin tibbles joins us from chicago. happy new year to you and happy cold one. i am hearing the guys are expecting the big 0. >> old man winter showed up last night. about a half foot of snow on the ground here. oddly a lot of times when you think it snows it warms up. that's an optical illusion. it is bone-chilling cold out here. not too many people ventured outside. perhaps they are finishing off the parties from of theula night. it's an awfully cold day here in chicago. just east of us in the big house in michigan, they will be having that big outdoor hockey game.

115,000 people are going to be sitting outside in this. they will watch the two teams play and finally they will see the winter classic. i suggest you dress in layers. >> i can't wait to go to the winter classics where they are trying to fill that thing. that should be a record. not much of a record behind you. folks standing aside. >> yeah. it's a lovely tree here in the plaza. not too many people are venturing out of doors today. i got -- speaking of the guys in stilettos, i have the red fur lined today. >> can you show us? >> i think i will give it a pass. >> stick around with kevin tibbles. he may show us the red stilettos. some of us may not want to see that. from chicago, thank you. >> a new era in new york city

with the first new mayor in 12 years. >> outgoing mayor michael bloomberg swore in bill deblazio. bill clinton will do the same in a former ceremony. michael bloomberg is probably sleeping this this morning. that's video that shows bloomberg surrounded by cheering staffers. they are wishing them a happy new year on his last day. he thanked the staff and wished the administration well. >> and now we will lead the next administration. most of us will live in the city for the rest of our lives and hopefully they will do a better job than we did. we want to have a great city for everyone. >> so what will the billionaire

do next? he would like to take up running again and use his library card and wants to do reading and focus on philanthropy. lots of time ahead perhaps. just hours before she led the countdown for the times square ball drop, sonia sotomayor blocked the @min station for religion groups to provide contraception coverage under health plans. the order is related to a group of nuns who challenged the law. she has given the government until friday morning to respond to that. coming up, colorado shops opened doors to recreational use. we will tell you more about that and the new laws that take effect this year. plus a look at the political races to watch in 2014. sales event is back. which means it's never been easier to get a new passat, awarded j.d. power's most appealing midsize car, two years in a row. and right now you can drive one

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>> beginning today, it's lights out for incandesce ept bulbs. the u.s. will stop producing the bulbs as they work to shrink the carbon footprint. that's one of the 140,000 new laws that goes into effect. colorado will make history becoming the first state to sell recreational marijuana and illinois will publish the names of drivers who stiff toll booths. don't think of ordering shark fin soup in delaware. joining us right now, we have a lot to talk about. we will get to 40,000. >> absolutely. i love the illinois where they are going to publish your name if you go through the tolls and don't pay them. over $1,000. there was a case where a guy got sued because he kept going through the easy pass lanes. it's funny when you think about people traveling now during this

holiday. you wonder how many people are doing that. >> it's hard to believe folks have high bills that they haven't paid. it makes a lot of sense. there a lot of weird and interesting laws. there is the calorie count requirement for venting machines. >> i love this requirement for vending machines. they are going to put that in place. the food industry is not liking it and saying they have to lay off workers because of it. the food and drug administration said they don't think it will harm the economy because the net benefit of the health care savings will help. the government tries to restrict something like junk food or cigarettes and you wind up sees the industry push back and the economy has really shown growth. >> the vending machine owners say they will have to cut back employees because of this law. >> right and we have seen that

over the past couple of decades as the governments in state and city governments try to restrict some of those things. you go to mcdonald's and you can see calorie counts on the board. that's something they didn't like in the first place. >> a law about mothers being able to take home placentas. that's interesting. >> hard for me to comment on that one. two kids at home, i'm not sure we would do something like that, but there is a lot of different laws on the books now. even more serious things. when you think about voting laws. you think about virginia to be able to vote or register to vote online. as a former high school english teacher, this one provision is interesting. at 16 years old now, able to preregister to vote and you can't cast a ballot until 18. what that will be like in the

classroom trying to introduce the more civics. >> will it help? >> i think it will because you can say look, in a couple of years you should vote. there was no practical implication for them. also what's going to mean politically is all the efforts and the voter registration drives are going to start moving into the high schools and start a lot sooner. 2014 coming up. anyone turning 16, colorado is important for 2016. they will be able to vote and interesting to see if the number of voters go up because of this. >> in california, a digital law that requires companies to describe how they share information that they might be pulling for you. >> this is all about privacy. we have seen this whole thing with the nsa and privacy matters. this is what people will be

talking about more and more as people have the smart phones and digital devices and can't imagine a world without them without realizing corporations are tracking every transaction you make. i think that privacy is going to be a huge issue going forward in the next couple of years. >> let's move to the races, the top three races to watch. let's start with the louisiana senate. >> i think louisiana senate race could be the linchpin race. incumbent mary landrieu going up against a republican there. this is a red state, but if mary landrieu can hold on, this is the race we are watching politically to say if this one stays democratic, maybe they hold the senate by one. if they don't, this could be where we look at it and say this is how republicans wind uptaking control. >> everybody is watching this one. the florida governor's race.

>> the incumbent republican was swept into the tea party wave in 2010. he's a wealthy former health care executive pledging to end up to $100 million on the race. charlie crist, former republican turned independent and now democrat running against him for his old job back. this is going to be a race to watch in a very important swing state. it's going to be so much money poured into this race. this is a very expensive tv state. a lot of expensive television markets. when you look at money, there is nowhere else that there is going to be more spent than in florida. >> a good indication in 2016 for the presidential election. finally that we have seen, mitch mcconnell all throughout the last year or so, very careful about the stances he's taken. that's a key race he is up against. >> for attention, this is going to be the top race to watch.

at least through the republican primary, this is an important race because we will see in march he is up against steve stockman and everyone thinks he will run away with that. mcconnell after that, it could reshape the narrative on the tea party versus conservative story line if mcconnell is able to beat the challenger and he is able to run against grimes and all indicates it's a fairly close race and a lot of money and attention going to be spent on that race to watch. >> it's a mid-term year, but last year was an off year. you will have a busier 2014 than last year. >> it's always busy. whether it's capitol hill politics going on this year that we thought would be able to go in place after obama's first year, there is no off years anymore.

it will be busy, but i like to watch the races. it will be fun. >> thank you and happy new year, friend. >> same to you. >> barbara bush is in a texas hospital. a statement from george hw bush provides details. the 88-year-old is being treated for respiratory illness. she is in great spirits. it's the new year and a new struggle for many of the unemployed americans who lot of their benefits. you will hear from one of them am category up.

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is. more than a million long-term out of work americans are starting the new year without benefits. they failed to approve an extension for those who have been unemployed longer than six months. the senate votes to temporarily extend the benefits. among those who had the benefits

cutoff and joins us from ann arbor, michigan. when we look at this, you got your last check. it's about $320 a week. what are you going to do? >> $320 a week minus what i earn in my jobs. what am i going to do? i don't know. i cut everywhere i possibly cut. i don't know what the options are if i get sick and miss a single day of worker won't be able to pay my bills. i am not ex-trav tratravagant a a car payment and student loan payments. when you get laid off, you have the same bills. >> if no change happen, will you reach out to friends and family? >> i had a cousin contact me and

offer it to me. i'm not comfortable with that. >> i haven't figured it out yet. i will deal with it when it happens, but the scare set in. this last check was a week late. >> when does your money run out? a week from now? you maybe got that? >> i'm done. >> how much do you have in your bank account now? >> i have $1.68 before i got this payment and every penny will be going to bills. i don't have anything extra. >> you have been working two part-time jobs and how has the job hunt gone since you have been unemployed? are. >> the two part-time jobs i have are great and i'm very lucky, but i have a degree and i applied for everything under the sun and i have not gotten a nibble. >> is it because it's very specialized? you are very well educated in that one space, but might you

have opportunities in other professions that may be more clerical for instance? >> i'm looking. i really am. i have been under employed for about years now and trying to start businesses on my own on the side. one thing i think that impacts me is my age. they look and see what your experience is and they either think you are going to be retiring soon or want to hire somebody for cheaper. >> what are do they say some. >> they don't say anything. i tried calling to say would you mind telling me why you didn't call me so i can address the issues. one keep going back to the same contractors that they use and they have to post the jobless and they don't intend to hire anyone different. >> have you spoken to job

counsellors? >> yes. >> have they given suggestions on how you might leverage what your professional experience is and how to open up the opportunities? >> usually they don't could what it is i do. i tried to help other friends that are also looking for positions. it's difficult. right now it's working as a massage therapist because i have a certificate in that. it ebbs and flows. ditwo massages on monday and that won't pay my bills. >> long-term ben gets don't ento your knowledge people to get back to work. if you could create any type of help, what would be ideal to help you get back to work? >> first of all, i think they need to put together incentivization program that encourages employers to hire the unemployed. there needs to be something that incentivizes them to look outside of their normal hiring

processes. the agencies that you are working with, unemployment or the conflict resolution offices are so desperately under staffed. you and i get a single question answered and i was there at 7:00 a.m. and i was 366th in line and they have three people to process all the people. the people that work in the offices can barely get through their day. the way the programs are designed right now are not designed to help people and they are designed to shuffle them through. you deal with them and get them out of the way. it marginalizes them even more. >> thank you so much for sharing your story. best of luck in the great town of ann arbor, michigan. >> it's a great town.

>> as we get ready for the winter games, matt lauer sat down with a preview of what to expect which athletes to watch. >> coming up in 36 days, the winter olympic games in sochi, russia will be there and so will julia roberts recovering his 15th olympics. >> it makes me sound so old. >> good morning and nice to have you. overall thoughts of the olympics. what does it mean? >> first and foremost the thing that strikes me, it's the second time in the history of the modern olympic games, the olympics will be in the largest country on earth. the only time previously they have been there was back in 1980 when just about 40% of olympic nations weren't competing. this is a landmark event. >> 12 new events coming up and the early word is that they may help the u.s. why? >> traditionally and

historically the united states had snowboarding events and freestyle skiing and a new event, the team figure skating and the united states has prospects in that area as well. >> let's talk about alpine skiing and the names that come to mind. you have lindsay vaughn, miller. lindsay vaughn is a question mark. >> i think what this is all about in terms of the prospects, it's about question marks and about exclamation points. the question marks are lindsay vaughn and i know you know she had the horrible knee injury and came back and injured the knee again. it's early to determine how she will do. bodie miller is 36 years old. going to his fifth olympic games. that is going to be a record for the winter games. those are the question marks. >> we have a young skier that a lot of people will be talking about. what do we need to know? >> that's the exclamation point.

a lot of people may think of her like missy franklin. she is 18 and did graduate from high school, but already she has been dominant. she won world cup gold last year and also at the world champ yenship. >> figure stating is one of the glamorous sports. we have ashley wagner and gracie gold to talk about. do you think they will make waves? >> there will be a lot of expectation for the two of them. let's talk about ashley wagner. she refers to herself as the almost girl. she has almost gotten it done a couple of times. she is the two-time u.s. champion and the first to win consecutive championships since michelle quan. at the world championship level, she has been fifth and fourth. there will be a lot of expectation on her, but you never know what's going to happen in figure skating.

>> another name to watch. there sports where u.s. men can make history in sochi. >> shawnee davis in speed skath. no u.s. man has won the same event in three consecutive games. shawnee davis won two consecutive 1,000 meters in the speed skating. ironically or i shouldn't say ironically, but coincidentically, bonnie blair won that. >> shawn white can make history as well. >> shawn white was the poster boy for snowboarding for so long, he is the veteran. he has an opportunity to win three consecutive goals. >> it will be interesting. the world goes to sochi. we will be there. thanks for the preview. i appreciate it. remember nbc coverage begins on

february 6th. up next, john kerry's latest admission and what we can expect from the trip to the mideast. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪

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use less, with the small but powerful picker-upper, bounty select-a-size. . an agreement on the framework for a mideast peace deal. the first of many expected trips to the region as diplomatic efforts intensify. kerry setting an april deadline to complete a comprehensive peace treaty that would establish an independent palestinian state. joining us now is mideast diplomacy analyst and adviser on the mideast to the obama white house. ambassador, good new year to you. some saying if they could be just too far apart at this moment, what are you looking at? what needs to be in the initial framework for this to succeed?

>> we have to divide this into two questions. question number is what's achievable now and two, what can you get done before the three-month president runs out. meaning nine-month overall. is it possible to produce an agreement? the answer is no. but a framework agreement is something that none the less would create a breakthrough. it would outline the guidelines or the principals on how to resolve the core issues. it was borders and securities in jerusalem. those were obviously the most emotional and difficult issues to deal with. what the secretary of state is trying to do is not if to get everything done in terms of every detail, but to establish a framework that allow you to get a picture of how they come in and work out the details overtime that allow you to go beyond the april deadline. >> would you describe as a framework to a framework in the

next three months? >> i would describe it as a framework and enough of an understanding of how to resolve the issues. we now know what we get as well as what we have to give up. >> part is the deal to bring palestinian leaders back to the table. the israeli government releasing prisoners on monday and in total, the deal is 104 will be freed here. prime minister benjamin netanyahu had criticism from the right, conservatives saying this is not good. he had protests in front of the residents. is there the political will behind netanyahu to get this done? >> you are focused on an interesting issue. whenever a leader takes a decision that is highly unpopular. that indicates intent and will. the more you are ready to do something difficult, the more you have a picture to try to get something done.

the prisoners he has been releasing is known as the people who were in prison prior to the time of the agreement in 1993. no prime minister up until now had been prepared to release that. that does create a perspective that in the case of prime minister netanyahu he is prepared to do something difficult for him and i think that's a positive sign. >> one concern coming from condition servatives that the palestinians wait until 104 are released and pull out the talks here. we talk about the multiparty system that exists in israel. is it too fragile for netanyahu to go further to get the deal done? >> the reality of his government is such that if he is really going to be in a position where he makes a decision on these kinds of core questions, there is no doubt it will put the coalition at risk. i would suspect that the government that exists today may

not be the government that exists overtime if he makes a decision on the core issues. these are controversial questions and each side carries the weight on their shoulders and i think it's a kind of thing where each side is asked to make enormously difficult decisions that is going to produce a backlash from at least some quarters. you are asking the right question. is it a political will on each side? >> what might sink this deal? the settlements are proposed by the committee there? >> i think that's obviously one issue. i think if there were actions of terror, that's another issue. the reality from each side's perspective and what they are asked to sign up to is beyond what they are prepared to accept. there is always a question of do they meet the minimum. we will have to find out if what

the secretary is trying to do is something that can reconcile where the israelis define their needs and you have in secretary of state kerry someone who brought energy and tenacity and a commitment to this. that is and those are attributes that they have to have if you get involved in this kind of a conflict resolution effort. many people have tried this before. i spent a lot of time on the issue and if you don't have the patience and the tenacity, you will give up. the good news about secretary kerry is he is very much committed to trying to get this done. at the end of the day, his commitment has to be matched by the party's commitment. >> thank you so much for your time on this new year's day for insight on this. >> my pleasure. >> parts of the country on a winter stormwatch. where the storm is headed and the impact as well. that's coming up. explaining my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis to another new stylist.

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>> fans of a giant rubber duck on display at a taiwanese port had their hopes plated. the toy exploded hours before the new year festivities kicked off. was it a wayward eagle puncturing it? they apologized to fans and promised a full investigation. we thought we would bring in the expert with rubber duckies. bill, i was wondering if it might be the sunny weather causeing it to expand? what do you think? >> stitching air. >> what's that? >> the seem. >> he is making it up as we go along. that is quite frightening, the huge ducky blowing up. let's talk about the weather. bitter cold and you got in the midwest. you were saying earlier you can see in chicago for highs. >> highs won't break zero. >> kevin tibbles can barely talk.

>> we have the snowstorm that is typical. the coldest air we have seen in ten years. possibly even central park in new york city. this air mass that is up here in southern canada is lingering on the other side of the border is ready to rush north. it came down to iowa and minnesota and behind this next storm, it will be frigid. it's not just taking up a shovel and we will be shoveling in many temperatures. that's not fun no matter what you are shoveling. the white stuff on the map shows snow. the coating out there on the ground, many areas of southern michigan and ohio and heading for erie and also near milwaukee. that's where it's slick. the storm will move itself to the east coast and this is a map that is all said and done. the highest is definitely in eastern portions of new england

and maybe possible blizzard conditions. post on and providence because of the windy conditions and the blowing and drifting snow. chicago around 5 to 7 or the middle of that. cleveland around 4 to 8. indianapolis and tonight into tomorrow morning. kansas city with this late or this evening. same for you in the morning. by the time it gets to the northeast, the most moderate and heavy snow, the heaviest in new england. i imagine if people were expecting their kids to return to school on friday, they won't have to do so in many areas. you notice new york city around 4:00 to 6:00. into southern and central portions of new england. some are happy as they get a ski weekend in the northeast. you don't get a lot of powder days. you have to be able to bear the brunt of negative wind chills. >> you raise the numbers within the last couple of hours.

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how's this for a start to your new year. congress has let 55 tax breaks expire. that means for mortgage premiums and teachers who buy supplies for their classrooms. also ending, tax credits for businesses that hire veterans. joining me now, ron insana. i'm thinking of the mortgage premiums. what are the major expirations here and why are we letting these expire? >> i suspect it might be like they do with medicare, a doc fix

relatively early in the new congressional year so the economy doesn't need any shocks from fiscal policy that are mandated by congress. i think those adjustments are relatively minor. i don't think they attack the full deductibility of state income taxes because that would be a major blow. >> will they most likely renew these, are you saying? >> i would suggest there would be modifications. part of these may be part of the budget agreement that are smaller than they appear on the surface. it doesn't appear that fiscal policy will get tighter, it may get looser. so that's more stimulant to the economy than 2013. >> also stimulative is what big business has on the shelves and the criticism is we don't know what's going to happen with the affordable care act or the gridlock in d.c. >> i think we've passed the peak of gridlock. i think going into the november midterms, this is something that

wall street and main street have less to worry about. it's almost political suicide to, let's say, default on the debt. >> what are ceos tell you? >> i haven't spoken to a lot of them but when you read the tea leaves with respect to the way parties are behaving here, they're looking at more skill yags and less argumentation. i don't think they want a shutdown or debt default to be top of mind come november. >> bottom line, more spending or less spending? more spending means more jobs basically is what i'm asking. >> well, it could. i don't think fiscal policy is getting stimulative enough to create jobs. in fact there's nothing even targeted at creating jobs. it's just there's less of a restraint on the economy than there was last year. >> you got a 401(k), maybe you don't need one. >> i wish that were the case. >> i've got a 401(k), ron, and we had a great year. just some of the numbers. 27% the dow jones up for the year. the s&p up 30%.

nasdaq up 38%. i'm guessing we're not going to see the same numbers in 2014. what will we see? >> look, it's hard to know. i mean i described earlier this morning this market in 2013 is the peyton manning market. it's getting a little old but it still put up some great numbers and we had a lot of records. this year typically you see maybe a good year after a great year. there's one caveat. this is the second year of what they call a presidential election cycle, typically the worst year for stocks of the four. so i think there's a correction that's possible, maybe 10% to 20%, given how far we've come. we went over 500 days without so much as a 10% pullback, not even a 5% pullback so the market could be vulnerable. it's gotten a little frothy lately, particularly the final few days of 2013. but i still think we're in a long-term bull market and i don't think people should interpret a correction as an end to what's going on. the u.s. economy is gathering steam, not losing steam. interest rates might tick up a little bit. that could cause some problems in the stock market. but to me once the correction takes place, it's still a very

robust bull market going forward. >> i have to counter you here, ron, i'm hoping for that manning record of 55 touchdowns. that's what i'm hoping for. >> in back-to-back seasons like that it would be fantastic, but you've got to get the individual investor in because they still have yet to participate in this. i want to move on to unemployment. we're going to get that report coming up on friday. are you expecting to see better, worse numbers here? >> well, the numbers have been trending in the right direction. certainly with the creation of 200,000 jobs, those are big numbers and they determine what the federal reserve is likely to do with its policy. the fed is going to start to taper off its efforts to hold down long-term interest rates by a little bit. reductions in bond purchases. the stronger that employment number gets, assuming it's getting stronger for the right reasons and not because people are leaving the workforce but because more jobs are being created, then the fed may accelerate that process of letting the economy stand on its own. that would be a great sign. it would be a transitional moment for the stock market but a great sign for the economy. >> real essential that tie

between jobs and the housing market. ron, have a great new year. breaking news we're watching right now on msnbc coming from minnesota. you're looking live at a traffic camera in minneapolis. our nbc affiliate kare is reporting an explosion at an apartment building there. about a dozen people have been injured in early reporting. we'll have much more coming up on that on msnbc as that develops. i'm richard lui, thank you for joining us. brian shactman picks things up next. you have a great new year ahead. of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪

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chunky spicy chicken quesadilla soup. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ good morning, everybody, happy new year. brian shactman here. i don't know if you're waking up here at 10:00 a.m. eastern time or not, but there were celebrations all across the planet and we have them all for you in a nice 90-second stretch. let's start with the crossroads of the world. it's new york times square. an estimated one million people braved subfreezing temperatures to watch the famed ball drop. an obamacare ruling wasn't the only thing that kept supreme court justice sonia sotomayor

busy. she had the honor of pushing the ceremonial button to start the countdown. >> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. happy new year! >> as always, the crowd erupted and if you had somebody cool to kiss, you kissed them. after the crystal ball reached midnight, and that's not just the only place that was over the top, how about this. this is in dubai. if you don't know much about the persian gulf city, it does everything big. it has the world's tallest skyscraper and it set a guinness record with the largest fireworks show of all time, at least during peace time. the dazzling 30-minute display featured half a million fireworks. they had 400 different locations synchronized by 100 computers.

it took months to get this thing ready and it looked amazing. big ben helped londoners usher in the new year along with a fireworks display of their own, although relatively modest compared to dubai. they did it along the river but the celebration was more than the sights and sounds. how about smell and taste? i'm not sure how i feel about this, but they had peach flavored snow, banana confetti and orange scented bubbles that came raining down on the londoners. greece welcomed in the new year at one of the most iconic spots in the world, right near the acropolis in athens. greece, by the way, will take over 2014 with the revolving presidency of the european union with all the troubles they have had with their economy. that will be interesting for sure. and from russia with love. what a beautiful shot with those steeples, onions, i don't know what the official term is. thousands packed moscow's red square to enjoy the fireworks outside the kremlin. security extremely tight in the

aftermath of the two suicide bombings in volgograd last weekend. let's go to brazil, rio de janeiro. they have their fireworks on the famous copacabana beach. >> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, happy new year! >> you've got to include this one. thousands on duval street in key west, florida, to watch a drag queen known as sushi drop in her red supersize stilettos. they have done this for 16 years in a row now, she's done it, or he, and it's a lot of fun had by all. on the other end of the street, party goers had the official man made conch drop down to celebrate the new year. finally, a much more serious note, the pope presided over new year's mass at st. peter's basilica offering words of strength, coverage and hope for the coming year. right now we are following some breaking news in minnesota. you're looking at a live traffic

camera in minneapolis. our nbc affiliate kare is reporting an explosion at an apartment building. as many as a dozen people have been injured and the fire is now at three alarms. we will stay on top of this breaking news story and bring you any new details as soon as we get them. i guarantee you will have some in the coming hours. well, the day has arrived. millions of americans will begin to receive insurance coverage today under president obama's health care law and the president's political organization rolling out a new campaign to highlight its benefits. organizing for action is kicking off its pr push with a new website that features personal testimonials from americans who have already enrolled in the health care exchanges. according to the administration, 2.1 million americans have now signed up for plans through federal and state exchanges, but in a new year's eve surprise, just hours before she led the countdown for the times square ball drop, supreme court justice

sonia sotomayor, blocked the administration from requiring a group of catholic nuns to comply with a part of the law that requires them to provide contraception coverage under their health plans. sotomayor has given the government until friday morning to respond. nbc news deputy political editor dominico monthnera joins me now. >> this is the little sisters of the poor based in colorado. runs several nursing homes around the country. you know, the administration has already exempted churches and other religiously affiliated organizations from providing things like birth control in insurance plans, but this group is suing and got a stay until friday. the administration has until then to respond. and it is sort of this gray area of nonprofits who feel that they

are religiously affiliated and want to be able to be exempted from this and not have to sign off on a waiver to say that this other insurer can provide contraception coverage. the bigger issue is going to be what the supreme court winds up doing with the lawsuits from corporations like the hobby lobby, which has about 15,000 people of various denominations working for them and they don't want to provide this kind of coverage. and that's wound up in front of the supreme court and that's a little bit more of a broader -- could have broader implications for this law. >> now, just quickly on that front, these are -- these court cases are going after certain provisions of the law. do any of the court cases, if you know, do they propose any existential issues for the law? >> well, the law is the law as far as the supreme court goes aside from some of these smaller items. the mandate was the big item that we were all waiting to see in the run-up to the election,

whether or not that would be upheld and that was as a tax. remember with chief justice john roberts signing on with the four more liberal members of the court. now we're sort of knifing through the law on in particular this contraception aspect, which you've had many members -- many sects of the catholic church being able to try to push back on the administration and the administration has tried to come up with some kind of compromise. this ruling from justice sotomayor is another one of those steps sort of saying to the administration try to find some kind of compromise here. but the law is the law as far as it is now. >> i want to talk quickly about the numbers. 2.1 million is short of their established -- the cbo said of 3.3 million for a goal but it's sounding like a bigger number. in terms of people you talk to in d.c., is there more

positivity about the data that's coming out in terms of sign-ups. >> considering what the rollout was like, getting more than two million people to sign up, i think a lot of people would say is a success at this point, especially considering how difficult it has been for so many people to try to sign up through the website. again, the biggest problem that they're going to have with this is young and healthy people who need to sign up, they need to be about a third of those who are going to sign up if the law is going to pay for itself. if they don't get that, that is the bigger problem in the long run for this law. >> is the repeal strategy gone now from the republican mantra, what they're doing? >> there's a debate about it among republicans. i think a lot of members in the house want to say look how bad this is, we don't need it, let's repeal it. unfortunately, polling doesn't bear out that's a good strategy. and you're seeing a lot of republicans, ron johnson, tea party senator from wisconsin, who is saying, you know, let's try to fix parts of this. let's get rid of the mandate perhaps. repeal certain parts of it.

but the problem is going to be you've got 2.1 million people signed up. what do you do with them? do you say, sorry, guys, you can't have your coverage. sign up through the marketplace as it was flawed previously. i think that's going to be a major, major problem and a major thing for republicans to consider in the year ahead. >> all right, we appreciate it. i want to bring in now nbc's john yang traveling with the president in hawaii. john, first of all, happy new year. >> reporter: happy new year, brian. thank you very much. >> any reaction from the white house in terms of what judge sonia sotomayor did last night? >> reporter: not yet. it happened fairly early in the evening here in hawaii time. we reached out to the white house and they said not to expect a statement last night. that if anything would come out, it would come out today at the earliest, but even then there's no guarantee. as dominico reported, the administration feels that they have already given an opt-out for religious groups, but the religious groups feel that in

order to do that, they still have to sign on to the insurance that covers birth control and that they feel that that would already violate their religious beliefs. >> you know, the president has a few more days left. you've been there a few days. have any sense of what the first agenda items are and any more insight into the state of the union? >> reporter: well, i think you're going to hear a lot in the state of the union about income equality. it's a topic that the president hit hard on in speeches in the fall of last year. he's going to renew his push to increase the minimum wage. the rest of it is sort of unfinished business. immigration, gun control, things that he had tried to do in 2013 but was unable to do. they have also got to get around another debt ceiling deadline and the possibility, although less likely, given the budget agreement, of another government shutdown. and another big agenda item

that's left undone for 2013 is nsa overhaul. he's got recommendations for what to do about sort of overhauling the nsa and their data surveillance program and he's got to say something about that, perhaps even before the state of the union. brian. >> john, the girls are getting a little older and they had new year's eve. i'm just curious, did we have any insight into what they did last night? >> reporter: we were told just that the family spent a quiet night in their vacation rental home here on the island. they did go out earlier in the day. they went to -- the family went snorkeling, which is something they do every year here. they also did the traditional visit to the shave ice stand. but as you say, brian, it is interesting that as the girls are getting older, before we saw them all together as a family and now we're seeing that less and less on that trip.

as a matter of fact, at the shaved ice stand we understand that the girls have been going every day on their own without their father. so it is, as time goes on, as the girls grow up and the president has sort of talked wistfully about that, that the girls want to spend less time with him now that they're getting into their teenage years. >> i just can't manl beiimagine teenager girl in the white house. john, happy new year, bud. >> reporter: thanks, brian. former first lady barbara bush in a texas hospital this morning. a statement from the office of president george h.w. bush says the 88-year-old mrs. bush is being treated for a respiratory-related illness and she was admitted to houston methodist hospital on monday. the statement also says mrs. bush, though in, quote, great spirits and we wish her a speedy and smooth recovery. let's go russia where president vladimir putin met with wounded victims of the

volgograd bombs and placed red roses at the site of a second bombing of a trolley bus. in all the explosions killed at least 34 people. no one has claimed responsibility for either attack. the explosions raising security concerns as russia preparing to host the 2014 sochi winter olympics next month. >> i bill de blasio. >> do solemnly swear -- >> just after the stroke of midnight,city's first democratic mayor in decades, bill de blasio, sworn in outside his brooklyn home. in just a few hours from now, former president bill clinton will do the honors of swearing him in for the second time. plus bone-chilling temps in much of the country on this new year's day. we'll have details on a snowstorm that will impact a large swath of the country. it's time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. derrick peka lost his coat at a

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a big day ahead for new york city mayor bill de blasio after his swearing-in just after midnight. >> i bill de blasio. >> i bill de blasio. >> to solemnly swear. >> do solemnly swear -- >> he is now new york city's 109th mayor, and in just two hours former president bill clinton will redo the haonor of swearing him in. here was de blasio's first message to new yorkers. >> i want to say to all of you how grateful we are. from the beginning this has been our family together, reaching out to the people of the city to make a change that we all needed. i want to thank you for having brought us to this moment. >> let's talk about this a little bit. ozzie, a reporter from capital new york with us and with me by phone, kate taylor from "the new york times." kate, happy new year. >> happy new year. thanks for having me. >> ozzie, let's start with you.

first democratic mayor in about 20 years. are we going to see a lot of changes and see them quickly? >> we are going to see changes but it's unclear how quickly we'll see them. one of the things bill de blasio had to do is pick an administration. he picked bill bratton but he's also keeping a few of michael bloomberg's commissioners. the fire commissioner is staying in place, the person who has to clean up after the snowstorm, john dougherty is a holdover from mayor bloomberg. but we're seeing immediately on day one some of mayor bloomberg's people also. >> it was a fascinating piece today about how progressives all across the country are watching this. gavin newsom who was mayor of san francisco and presided over a lot of changes in that city chimed in as well that it's a national story. that's why we're talking about it. do you see if his progressive policies work that it's something that will be emulated across the country? >> i think that's certainly a

possibility. obviously we've seen with mike bloomberg that some of his health policies, you know, banning smoking in bars and restaurants and parks and his transportation policies, bike lanes are being emulated across the country and he's going to continue promoting those policies. i mean the other interesting thing is that bill de blasio is achieving -- has achieved already such prominence and the country is watching. you know, you mentioned that bill clinton is going to swear him in today. it's very significant that the clintons, both of them, are going to be here. hillary will be sitting right next to bill de blasio on the dais. >> let me ask you about that. the clintons are very focused on their legacy and bill de blasio is attached to them. to what degree do we think they're going to be involved or de blasio will use them as advisers or maybe have an impact with the 2016 race with hillary? >> well, i think that it's a very mutually beneficial

relationship. obviously the clintons give de blasio some credibility. by being here today they give this event national significance. at the same time, there's a lot of discussion about whether hillary, if she runs in 2016, is going to face some challenge from the left. they're talking about whether elizabeth warren would run for president. having a strong relationship with bill de blasio and his wife gives the clintons a real connection to the new guard of really liberal democrats and having bill de blasio campaign for hillary clinton, assuming de blasio does well as mayor could be really powerful. >> azi, we can't forget we have an outgoing mayor in michael bloomberg who was extremely important. he really set the tone for smoking policies across the world. he did a lot of social engineering or efforts to do so in terms of food and drink and you saw what he's done to the times square area with the cars and so on.

what do you think is his biggest legacy item? >> you know, if you think back to where new york was or where the country was really the day that he got sworn in, it was a place that was still reeling from what happened on september 11th. it was a place where people doubted the future of urban cities. and michael bloomberg, he had said the day that he got sworn in, he's going to make new york city open for business and also make it a place that's livable, that people want to come to. it was very much in doubt that people want to cluster together, be in cities, and michael bloomberg has helped usher in not just the modernization of city government. remember, there was no facebook, twitter, iphones, none of those things. he's brought all of that into city government in time to keep up to pace with what people are doing but also he's invited people to rethink about what to do in cities. >> kate, real quickly on this one. >> yeah, i think that azi is absolutely right. i think that really the health policies have been some of his

biggest legacies. the anti-smoking and nutritional policies. obviously his attempt to ban large sodas failed, but bill de blasio has said that he supports it and he may continue pursuing that legal appeal. these are things that have really been imitated around the world. bloomberg is going to go on to focus on his philanthropy and he's going to continue pushing these policies around the world. >> personally i'm just amazed at the safety of this city and how safe people feel. you have to come to new york to really understand how big and how busy it is on every street and you truly have a sense of security. maybe, knock on wood, but it is real palpable. azi, kate, we really appreciate you coming on on this new year's day. >> thanks for having us. coming up next, a live report from chicago where 2014 off to a cold start and pretty snowy. we'll get an update on the forecast. some areas of the country

expecting up to a foot of snow later in the week. plus the 74 people who rang in the new year stranded on a research ship in antarctica. it's got to be a movie at some point, right? we'll get the latest on the effort to bring them back to dry land. [ male announcer ] alka seltzer plus presents the cold truth. [ coughs, sneezes ]

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before. it is indeed still snowing in chicago. we got about 6 inches overnight. just added a little festive, frosty new year's eve celebrations. lots of folks came downtown anyway because, what the heck, it is january in chicago. so why wouldn't you go downtown in the middle of a snowstorm. the streets have been cleaned off. everything is salted. they're working along behind me to get rid of this huge bank of snow that i'm tucked in front of and we are expecting more snow throughout the day. there is a winter warning until about 6:00 tonight and several hundred flights in and out of o'hare airport and midway were cancelled last night and into today, so folks heading home from here and other points midwest should check with their airlines before they head to the airport. now, of course, you let me segue right into what's going on one state over in michigan. the big house, 115,000 hearty

souls are going to be outside watching the nhl winter classic. those who can't be there will be watching it on nbc at home, of course. but i hope they're dressing in layers out there, because whatever weather we're getting -- i can't even talk anymore it's so cold. whatever weather we're getting here, they're going to have there and let's hope that they have got scarves and all those things and cheer for their favorite team. >> yeah. i'm a fan of neither but i will say you are a perfect example. i've stood out in many a storm, that if you're not moving, it's hard to stay warm. we appreciate you being outside for us, kevin. happy new year, bud. >> reporter: see you, man. >> kevin tibbles live for us in chicago. weather conditions putting rescue plans on hold for passengers on board a ship trapped in some ice off antarctica. helicopters on stand by to airlift some 52 stranded passengers who have been stuck there for more than a week and they're stomping that ice to try to make room for that helicopter when it ever gets there.

duncan joins me with the latest. duncan, any idea when the conditions will let up so they can get in there and get these people out? >> reporter: well, there's no sign of it letting up yet. there was hope earlier today when heavy fog looked like it was lifting, but it just wasn't enough. there are reports of heavy rain, strong winds and clouds. the cloud is the real obstacle because the helicopter pilots find it difficult to distinguish between cloud cover and the ice flows. if you imagine, it's all white down there. according to a journalist on board the russian research ship, passengers were told today that there will be another attempt at a helicopter rescue tomorrow if the weather improves. >> now, tell me, we've done the stories the last couple of days of how everyone is still in a good mood, they had new year's eve last night. looks like they're getting a little stir crazy, but they're holding up okay? >> reporter: their spirits are remarkably good. i think that's because they have enough food to last them and there are plenty of backup plans if all goes wrong. but take a look at this video.

you can see now that's a song that they wrote and performed to bring in the new year. an original antarctic classic, under cover there because of the bad weather. that's the kind of thing they're doing to keep their spirits up, as well as stomping on the ice. they seem to have had a good new year. they couldn't go too crazy because it's always daylight there, so rescue could come at any time. so i think that affected how much champagne was drunk or not drunk. >> they sure have a heck of a story to tell. duncan, we appreciate it. coming up on msnbc, four men who received the nation's highest military honor open up about what it means to be awarded the medal of honor. >> my biggest fear is with my daughter. >> to not be able to hand over the awesome country that i was given to the next generation. >> retired colonel jack jacobs one of the 77 living medal of honor recipients will join me live to reflect on the award, plus the president's plan to remove most american troops from afghanistan by the end of 2014.

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>> 2014 could prove to be a pivotal year for the 12-year war in afghanistan. most of the remaining 47,000 troops are scheduled to leave by the end of the year. since the war began, eight army soldiers, one marine have been awarded the nation's highest military decoration, that would be the medal of honor. nbc's matt lauer spoke with some of these modern-day heroes. >> when you look in the mirror and you see that medal around your neck, what do you think of? >> i think of all the service members, all those who have served and are continuing to serve and those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. >> on a really bad day, where everything went wrong, you followed your instincts, you did what you thought was right. and for us, i believe that we had the fortune and misfortune of surviving when a lot of our brothers did not. >> outside of battle, what makes you afraid today?

>> my biggest fear is with my daughter. to not be able to hand over the awesome country that i was given to the next generation. >> you think battle is hard, wait until her teenage years. >> sergeant? >> i'm still active duty. i fear that i will fail as a husband or i will fail as a father. so every time my daughter gets up and starts walking, i fear that i won't be there to catch her when she falls or when my son goes to school, if i haven't taught him on being a gentleman, where have i failed there. >> during the season people will go to the airport and see members of the military getting on and off planes in uniform. what should we say to those people. >> i think thank you. i tell a lot of people that's one of the greatest rewards a service member can get is a simple thanks. >> i'm joined by the guy on the far right who didn't say anything in that interview, one of the 77 living medal of honor recipients, retired army colonel and msnbc military analyst jack

jacobs. happy new year. >> good morning. happy new year. >> we were watching the news last night and my wife and i had our three kids, 7, 6 and 4 watch that, just because we thought it's important to see that and see those kind of anecdotes. what was it like in different generations of vets sitting with those guys, just having that thread between you? >> it's a very strong thread, but it has less to do with the medal of honor than it does with the simple notion of service. we all share one thing and that is we all had and still have a desire to serve the country. that's why we were in uniform. and that's the thread. and we share it with each other, but we also share it with tens of millions of other americans. it's what keeps us altogether. >> you know, you received your honor from president nixon in october of '69 for what you did in vietnam. i want to read a little bit of what i think was from the presentation that day. despite bleeding profusely from

the head and with your vision impaired and under intense enemy fire, you are credited with saving the lives of one u.s. adviser and 13 allied soldiers. obviously this is an experience that will never leave you and it defines you in many ways. when you reflect on that day it happened, what goes through your mind now in 2014? >> the real burden that the medal of honor confers on you, you have a responsibility to represent all those men and women who served, all those people who performed valiantly and it was never reported or it was reported and the paperwork was lost. there were no witnesses. or the witnesses themselves died. and so it's -- i'm reminded of an observation of a medal of honor recipient now gone, nikki bacon, who said we don't wear the award for ourselves, we wear it for all those who can't. >> let's show it to people, you brought it in this morning. as people take a quick look at

it, the one thing i always focus on in these similar conversations is that you got your award in a conflict that was so complicated and not everyone was received warmly back in this country. just talk about this transformation about how americans honor and reflect on their veterans. >> well, the good news is that they are treated better. that's always good news. the bad news in my mind is the reason why they might be treated better, i like to think it's because we really value service and sacrifice now, but there's this gnawing concern that i have that the reason that we treat veterans better is pretty much because none of us or very few of us actually have to be veterans. that concerns me. the notions of service and sacrifice that drove most of us to put on the uniform i think is absent among most of the population i'd like to see be there. >> the percentage of people serving, listen, i did not serve

my country so i think that's true. there's such a small percentage of americans now who do this kind of service. jack, i want to transition quickly into politics and into what's going on right now in afghanistan. we don't know what's going to happen, if all the troops are going to come out at the end of 2014. what is your sense of concern for that region if we do pull out fully? >> well, we made a mess of the region to start with. >> having said that, it was a mess when we got there. >> yeah, and it's gotten worse actually. and i'm not convinced that some of the things that we did weren't at least partially the cause of them. we ignored despots in the region for decades and then our surprise when there's revolution which is outside anybody's control to guide. it's a mess and it's getting worse. i think our influence in afghanistan is de minimus. we're certainly going to have people there who are going to continue to train afghanistan soldiers to defend the country but that's not going to work out

very well because we just will not have combat power, the numbers. >> so you think it's better to just get out completely? >> well, i think the national command authority has decided that we are going to get out completely. we will have some forces left in the region, but they'll mostly be confined to logistics people and people trying to train afghan soldiers. combat troops, we're pulling them out altogether. so we've lost influence in that area. we've lost influence where there were quite a few threats actually in the pacific. our influence generally has waned and i think that's to the great detriment and safety and security of our allies around the globe. >> see what happens in afghanistan in 2014. colonel jack jacobs, thank you on both levels. >> you're very, very welcome and happy new year. happy new year to everybody. still ahead on msnbc, we are waiting to hear from the white house after supreme court justice sonia sotomayor blocked a controversial part of the president's health care law hours before it was set to take effect. plus, this is a good one, oscar voting now under way which

means movie studios campaigns for oscar gold in the home stretch. we'll take a look at some of the contenders. plus why leonardo dicaprio is defending "the wolf of wall street." [ sneezes, coughs ] i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. oh what a relief it is.

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it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. oh what a relief it is. academy award nominations in two weeks and leonardo dicaprio defending his oscar hopeful "wolf of wall street" from those who says it glorifies greed. >> is all this legal? >> absolutely not. >> we are making more money than we know what to do with. >> technically you do work for me. >> what's wrong, daddy? >> my god. >> the movie, based on the story of a wall street scammer, features a lot of booze, a lot of sex and some ridiculous amounts of money that was illegally received. dicaprio plays the lead role and says the movie highlights issues that need to be talked about in our culture. let's talk about this and a few

other oscar contenders with the senior editor of "variety" magazine. let's start with the movie. you see such a polarizing analysis of it. what does it mean for oscar nominations and leo specifically. >> it's an interesting example because people either love it or hate it. i think it had a score of a "c" so some people were giving it as and some giving it fs. >> and why is that, because we have some income disparity in our country and some hate wall street and others don't? >> in this case it's a scorsese movie that's three hours long and it's very -- there's a lot of sex, a lot of drugs. it's very out there. i think if you go along with it, i thought it was great. if you go along with it, it's long but i think it's a great movie and a lot of fun and i think it will get a best picture oscar nomination. remember, there are ten best picture nominees now. leo sometimes gets snubbed boy the academy. he was snubbed for "titanic" and

has been snubbed a lot over the years but he had a great performance. >> after "blood diamond," he deserves it. we talked off camera about "american hustle," it has incredible stars. there's two things, just from seeing it myself, i never really got jennifer lawrence and then i saw this movie. and with christian bale right there and bradley cooper, i thought she acted the pants off of those guys. but with all those big names, is that going to be a problem for nominations? >> well, it's a very competitive year so christian bale is in the best actor race which is very competitive and bradley cooper, best supporting actor. i think jennifer lawrence is a lock for best supporting actress. the academy loves her. she won last year. hollywood loves her and they need her. they need a young, bright, smart leading lady and she's absolutely going to get nominated. >> she was amazing. 12 years a slave" is a tough

watch and it's powerful. it's not really being discussed a whole lot. why is that? >> it came out in the fall and made about $37 million at the box office. i think now that award season is in full swing, i think people will be talking about it more. it's going to get certainly nominated for best picture. its star is going to get nominated. michael fastbender will likely get nominated and lupita, but the best actress will get nominated. she was great. >> "the dallas buyers club" is another one i saw. people will talk about matthew mcconaughey and this transformation in his career. but a guy like jared leto and you have to go to the movie to see what this guy did. he was amazing in this movie. but does the quality of the role and type of role, does that affect voting? >> jared leto is going to win for best supporting actor. he's so good in it. >> he's amazing in this movie. >> he's been acting -- you probably never watched "my so-called life" but he was on in

the '90s. matthew mcconaughey will get nominated. he lost so much weight for this role. and i think a lot of people will be talking about this movie throughout the oscar season. >> they must have filmed "wolf of wall street" close together because in that he still looks gaunt in that movie. let's get down to some picks. what do you think is the best picture of the year. obviously jared leto is getting best supporting actor, but what about the movie? >> it's going to be a tight race between "12 years a slave" and "american hustle." but i think "american hustle" is going to win. >> really? >> listen, david o. russell is amazing and the movie is great. >> it's an actors movie. i think actors will appreciate the performances, they'll appreciate the story. david o. russell has never won best director and his movie has never won. >> any quick pick on better actor or actress? >> "gravity" will have a strong

showing. sandra bullock will get nominated for best actress. >> we've been talking offset for two days now. coming up on msnbc, eat healthier, exercise more, drink less. sound familiar? a lot of us make those new year's resolutions but none of us actually keep them. next i'll talk to a professor who created a new class and she says will help you stick to your promises in the new year. we'll be right back. well another great thing about all this walking i've been doing is that it's given me time to reflect on some of life's biggest questions. like, if you could save hundreds on car insurance by making one simple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. i dbefore i dosearch any projects on my home. i love my contractor,

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welcome back to breaking news in the state of minnesota. we have live chopper video of crews battling the flames after an explosion in an apartment building in minneapolis. we're told as many as a dozen people have been injured and several have been taken to the hospital. police investigating what caused the explosion. the first floor of the building was a business and the two upper floors were residential. we want to bring in minneapolis fire chief john freedle joins me

by phone. any updates or information on a possible cause here and the extent of the injuries. >> no, at this point it's still really early. we're still in a defensive position. we're outside the structure pouring a large amount of water on the building. it's untenable for us to make entry at this time. again like you reported earlier, we did have 13 victims that were transported. at this point it looks like we may have six that are critical. they have been transported to two local hospitals. and the cause or origin of the fire is still obviously undetermined and very early on in the investigation and probably just in its infancy. >> officer fruetel, it was definitely an explosion as opposed to just a fire, correct? >> that's what was reported, an explosion with fire so we have not determined the cause of that yet but that's what was reported. when crews arrived, they had heavy fire showing on the second and third floors of the

structure. they made initial entry and became very untenable very quickly so we pulled all the fire crews out and we're still in a defensive position at this time. >> we know you're very busy. we appreciate the time. fire chief john fruetel, i know it's cold out there too with your crews so be safe out there, we appreciate it. >> we appreciate it too. thank you, now. let's move on now. when the clock struck midnight, many of us made the same new year's resolutions we have year after year after year. how to lose weight, exercise more, spend more time with the family. those are usually the trifecta, if you will. an estimated 40% of americans make resolutions but only 8% achieve their goals. now we have two harvard educators who think they have unlocked the key to keeping resolutions. i'm joined by one of them, lisa lahey. professor, happy new year. >> happy new year to you too. >> before we get to my personal issues here, let's just start with why generally is it so hard

to follow through with this stuff? >> well, i think what we've learned is that the main reason is that people think the real problem they're trying to solve is just behavioral. so, you know, to use this example of i've got to lose weight, people know i've got to just eat fewer calories so they think that's really the problem they have to solve. let me eat fewer calories. but they're already more often than not on the wrong track by thinking that's the problem. there's usually something that is going on inside of us that overeating is actually helping to accomplish. >> so you teach this class on unlocking change. so what are the mistakes that people make besides going to the effect and not the cause? >> that is the main mistake people make. i mean we call this the dieter's approach to change is basically everybody's default model for how change happens.

which is just go at it behaviorally. and in this course, which actually we haven't yet begun to teach, it's a new course that's going to be offered online through harvard ed-x and we already have 40,000 people registered for it. amazing. and what we're hoping to teach people is that there is a method that they can use that helps them get beyond the behaviors, dig inside, see what's going on in their internal landscape that is really leading them to behave in these ways they want to change. and then we put tools in their hand to help them to be able to basically explore, is there mindset so correct or not. >> i don't know if the syllabus is done yet, but just beyond what we've already talked about, can you give us a nuance or some little nugget here that people might not know as they sit here and watch? >> well, let me give you an example, because this is a real person and it's the sort of

thing that we hope for, for everyone. a pretty typical new year's resolution is to want to stop smoking. and some fellow in his 40s said to me this is a goal i have tried to accomplish a number of times and that's a great goal to be using for a course like ours because it's really important to the person and they have tried and they haven't been able to sustain the change. so what the process does is say that smoking behavior isn't just coming out of nowhere, it is actually serving some really important purpose and so the exercise helps people to identify, well, what is that hidden purpose? and in this particular person's case, what he discovered was that, oh, his goal was at the very same time he so wanted to quit smoking, his goal was to stay connected to his now deceased father and he realized that, oh, i have those intimate moments of us sitting at the

kitchen table where my father would be smoking and it was a time when we'd really be with one another. and the exercise helped him to have that aha, which was, you know, profound for him. he really understood for the first time why he was being so unsuccessful in those prior efforts. >> maybe i should give another crack at it. we're up against the clock. we appreciate it. if you've cracked the code, you're going to get a lot more than 40,000 followers on that one. we appreciate the time. >> thank you. >> happy new year. i'm brian shactman. that does it for me on this hour. happy new year to everybody. thomas roberts picks things up next. [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

her long day of pick ups and drop offs begins with arthritis pain... and a choice. take up to 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. all aboard. ♪ hi, everybody, good morning. i'm thomas roberts and a very happy new year to you all. i'm going to speak softly just in case you're a little hung over today because from the look of it the entire world had a great time ringing in the new year. last night's biggest party kicked off here in new york where officials estimated about a million people would show up to see the wall drop, helping to

send the city into the new year, supreme court justice and bronx native sonia sotomayor. >> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 -- happy new year! >> fireworks also helped turn las vegas into several of its casinos into a scene right out of "ocean's eleven" while in key west, florida, a drag queen named sushi road a giant high-healed shoe down the pole there. lots of cheers, thousands taking to the streets to ring in 2014. then we look overseas and in dubai, one of the world's largest fireworks display at approximately the world's tallest building there. look at that, an absolutely amazing scene. and then in london, big ben was the site of another series of impressive fireworks. in paris, the champagne and wine flowed freely to ring in the new year. a more serious tone, however, was struck in parts of the world

with pope francis, "time" magazine's person of the year, leading his first mass of the new year. and while moscow's fireworks were likely a welcome distraction for its citizens from the recent terror attacks, in russia, lighting up the night sky, about 100,000 citizens in neighboring ukraine gathered in their capital's main square singing their country's national anthem. that same area has been the area of pro-european protests. back here in the u.s. today is the first day of coverage for those enrolled via the federal and state health care exchanges for the aca. the much maligned rollout appears to have gotten progressively better with the white house now reporting more than 2 million enrolled by the federal and state exchanges. while that is definitely one of the bigger political story lines heading into 2014, it is but one piece of a larger agenda for president obama. >> i think 2014 needs to be a year of action.

we've got to build on the progress we've painstakingly made over these last five years with respect to our economy and offer the middle class and all those who are looking to join the middle class a better opportunity. and that's going to be where i focus all of my efforts in the year ahead. >> joining us now, nbc news's deputy editor domminco. welcome to you all and happy new year. do i need to speak softly for anybody? just let me know off the bat. >> no, you don't. >> all right, dominico, i'm going to start with you. what kind of breathing room do these new enrollment numbers provide to the white house and any mojo it's trying to gain into 2014. >> thomas, they're certainly good numbers if you compare them to really two months, you know, of the bad website rollout. they lost october and november for the most part.

you got most of these people, the vast majority in december. so they're on their way. and ike t think the 2.1 millione bigger picture here, it's going to be difficult for republicans to say let's pull back the health care law completely when you have that many people already signed up for coverage. of course there's still going to be complications for the president and as goes health care, one of our pollsters said, so may go the obama presidency and anything else he wants to get done in this second term. >> as we go back as monday morning quarterback how that rollout could have been so much better, rebecca, and now we look at the gradual liftoff that the aca is receiving with people enrolling and being able to do so successfully, how do you think that these numbers and the success, the building success of the rollout then helps the overall agenda of the president then shifting attention to things like income inequality in this country, the minimum wage conversation and then, of course, unemployment insurance that we know went away on the 28th?

>> well, of course the numbers are extremely important and critical and really makes the white house's case in the shifting narrative. you look in december and you had six times as many people sign up for those exchanges in december as in october and november combined. so the white house feels as if they have the wind at their backs in that respect. on the other hand, you're still looking at with the january 1st debut, you're looking at the possibility of still more glitches. what you're looking at is the front end that's vastly improved, but a back end that was still plagued by a lot of problems. and so you're going to see all these reports of glitches popping up and you're going to see that huge push from the white house, that messaging operation that we heard about during the holidays where they're going to be making the case by individual stories, trying to keep that sense of momentum going and carrying over to the rest of the agenda as well. >> as you talk about that front end, people getting successfully enrolled, then it's being able to successfully use what they enrolled in. for the people who can go to a

doctor for the first time starting now, january 1st under this health care law, as a medical professional, first of all, i doubt many people will be seeing their medical professionals today. if you find that lucky doctor. but what's your take on the rollout as rebecca points out the fact that, yeah, it's really going to be in the get to know you of the aca when people start to put it into effect. >> sure. well, three big things happen today. there are no more pre-existing illnesses, there's no more annual limits of coverage, there's no more rate premium variations. that is the first time in the history of the united states that's ever happened. so today is a big day. i mean really the hullabullu was -- the website glitches, i didn't like them but the backlash was it hurt issa and cruz because it galvanized us as supporters of this great law, not just a bill this is a law.

that's why we're following this as health care professionals. i want the young people to remember the more of you enroll, the lower the premiums will be. i'm really excited and i want everybody to understand this is something that's changing the way health care is delivered in america, hands down, no question. >> doc, you have to admit with birthing this baby that took years to birth for this administration to let the eye off the ball at the very end for the actual implementation and the access for regular everyday americans, that's a big piece of the puzzle that should have been effectively placed in front of everybody where there wouldn't be such dire outcome and such an ease yy achilles heel for the republicans to dig in on. >> no one was more mad than myself because i'm a health care provider so i need easy transition for this type of thing. however, websites are websites. we can get a 17-year-old kid to fix apple's website when the ios 7 rolled out. the website is fixed and 880,000

people on christmas eve alone went to this thing. i don't want to make excuses because the reality is that it didn't roll out well. but right now we have to make sure we pull ourselves up by our boot straps and push on through to make sure that the least of our brethren have the coverage as the most of your brethren. >> so we march into the new year. dominico, hours before we rang in the new year and helping to do so in new york was justice sotomayor and she granted a religious group a stay on the part of obamacare that requires birth control coverage. how big of a problem is that going forward for the administration as people see that as a potential wedge issue for other places to be able to pickaway at the aca? >> this was one narrow decision by justice sotomayor to delay this until friday for the administration to get back on this one specific case about a nonprofit group, little sisters of the poor, based in colorado. so it's one group and it's t

tangential affiliation to religious groups. the administration has granted exemptions for churches and other affiliated groups. this is going to measure whether or not this group in particular can get this through and whether these nonprofits can as well. the bigger issue is going to be when the supreme court takes up the challenge from some of the corporations, like the hobby lobby that came forward, has 15,000 people, varying denominations and they're also saying for religious purposes we don't want to grant this kind of coverage or have to sign off on it. well, that's going to be a much bigger deal if private corporations with religious -- with folks who run them who want religious exceptions, that would be a much bigger deal than this with nonprofits where there seems to be some wiggle room already from the administration. >> rebecca, real quickly, i don't want to run out of time without talking about the other big issue coming up in the new

year and that's what we're going to be seeing, the fight with the debt ceiling. i want to play a little sound on how democrats and republicans are framing the stands on the positions. take a listen. >> no, we're not going to negotiate for congress to pay bills that it has accrued. >> we as a kcaucus are going to meet and discuss what it is we want to get out of the debt limit. we don't want nothing out of this debt limit. >> so we've been down the debt ceiling road before but the president makes the great point that this congress has already approved what items have to be paid for and now not to go ahead and pay them is basically all of us defaulting on our credit. so what are we likely to see as that conversation ramps up? >> and of course both of those sets of arguments are deja vu arguments for everyone. we've been here before and heard that from both sides before. the question now is coming out of the last showdown, speaker boehner came out of that oddly, even though the republicans didn't get anything out of it in reality. he actually came out of it in a very strong place with his

caucus so it remains to be seen exactly where they go. but the key is with both sides having gotten really what they want out of the last showdown, when we look ahead to the coming showdown, whether that's enough for his members, whether he can make that sale a second time, particularly given the strength of his position. >> all right, gang, thanks so much. happy new year to all of you and thanks for letting me speak in the national conversation tone that i already have. since you had a nice relaxing night. thanks, gang. coming up, out with the old and in with the new. in a little less than an hour, an inauguration ceremony for new york's new mayor, bill de blasio. we'll talk about the changing of the guard as well as the bloomberg legacy. and look at times square. man, have they run away? sunlight comes up and everybody disappears. 2014 in new york city. we'll talk, straight ahead.

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>> i, bill de blasio. >> i, bill de blasio. >> do solemnly swear -- >> okay, and with that at 12:01 this morning the bloomberg era came to an end and bill de blasio was sworn in as the mayor of new york city with his family around him. we're about an hour away to seeing the inauguration with an event with a guest list that ranges from borough residents and former president bill clinton and hillary clinton in tow. while his abrupt rise to the mansion has many new york democrats excited, the newly minted mayor de blasio doesn't have an easy road ahead. he campaigned on the issue of two cities of new york. one where the rich are just getting richer and the poor are getting poorer which means the

onus is on him to address the income inequality. i want to bring in two people very familiarity with the mayor and new york city as well and the campaign that de blasio ran. we have colin campbell from "the new york observer" and elizabeth greenspan joining me from miami, where i understand it's 81 degrees. >> yes, it is. >> so we're all very jealous back here in new york but we'll try to hold our resmaent back on this issue. elizabeth, i'm going to start with colin. when we talk about the theme that de blasio ran on with new york being two cities, the rich getting richer and the inequality gap even further, what is the first striking thing that the mayor can do to prove that he's living up to campaign promises. >> the signature piece of his agenda is to raise the taxes on new yorkers who make over $500,000 a year. in order to do this, he has to get albany's approval, which means the state government's approval, and governor andrew

cuomo and the state legislature seem to be resistant to the idea of raising taxes. so it will be a haul for him. >> so that means working across the aisle, getting with political opponents to see if this can work. elizabeth, let me talk to you about the need for the mayor to do that, because in this conversation about inequality in the city, obviously affordable housing in new york is a huge issue. but how does he compartmentalize being able to work with those political opponents across the aisle to get to those issues and to be able to get people to relinquish and recognize the growing chasm here in the city between the rich and the poor? >> yeah, i think that's his challenge and that's what everyone is going to be looking to see how he does. it's -- the problem in manhattan is greater than in any other city in the u.s., so people are aware of it and he's made a really compelling case during the campaign. i think the key for him is to key telling that story but to

also persuade the real estate interests in the city, developers, the so-called 1% that it's in their interests too to make new york more equitable. so he has to kind of appeal to them and probably, you know, not go too quickly. there's going to be a lot of pressure for him to move quickly. there are a lot of activists who are excited about what he's going to do and people are watching, but i think probably taking some time, making his case and getting people across the aisle to work with him and trust him is really his key. >> and we were just looking at a live picture of the setup going ahead for the inauguration. again, it's about 40 minutes away. but i know, colin, you recently wrote a piece, the winners and losers that came out of the new york mayoral race. the winners we have obvious being de blasio and the progressives and they're looking at what his leadership is going to mean to the city. but you talked about old school politics, newspaper endorsements as the losers in that. how did you mean? >> his primary opponents, most of the action in the race happened in the democratic primary because the general election was a blowout. the primary race, his main

opponents gathered, you know, the significant endorsements, "the new york times," "the new york daily news," "the new york post" as well as the most influential politicians in the city. de blasio really -- as well as its biggest unions. de blasio really had more of an ideological message, more focused on his tale of two cities. and he focused on releasing that out in tv ads and sort of collecting all the different coalitions and getting to 50.1% and ended up being very successful. >> elizabeth, let me leave it with you on this because, again, people are excited to see what this change means for new york city that's been very familiar with what it's meant to have a bloomberg administration. the other big point for our new mayor will be the fact that he was trying to run on a more equitable policing force and what it means here in the city not only on income inequality but how our police force is doing. and agency heads. now we've got bill bratton taking over at police commissioner. >> right. >> these are very deliberate

choices. what do you take away from it? >> yeah, i mean i think this is part of his strategy. he's brought in bratton, who worked in the giuliani campaign so he's been there a while, people are familiar with him. he's not going to be someone who is going to seem too radical too quickly, so it's part of his strategy to bring some people in that seem a little bit more moderate, that they're comfortable with, while also telling this news story that's really compelling, that he's going to take on some real challenges that are nfacing new york and other cities across the country. that's why people are so excited because they get to see what's going to happen here in new york while people in boston, d.c., san francisco, seattle, they're all facing this affordability and crime. i mean these are problem that say all cities face, so how is de blasio going to balance this. now we get to watch and find out. >> it's going to be a fascinating time to watch here in new york city. colin campbell, great to see you, sir. elizabeth greenspan thanks for joining us in miami. happy new year to both of you. we'll have more on that

ceremony. they're setting up there for the incoming mayor, de blasio, the official inauguration coming up in the next hour. straight ahead, the weather already playing a big part of 2014 as a significant storm is chugging east across the country. we're going to bring you a live update from snowy chicago and fill you in on where this storm system is heading. who's going to feel the brunt of it when we come back. plus presents the cold truth. [ coughs, sneezes ] [ sniffles ] i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? [ male announcer ] nope. they don't have a decongestant. really? [ male announcer ] really. alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a fast-acting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. [ inhales deeply ] alka seltzer plus. oh. what a relief it is. [ male announcer ] can't find theraflu, try alka seltzer plus for fast liquid cold and flu relief.

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there. >> reporter: well, thomas, i'm not in providence or cape cod or whatever the other places are, but i can tell you that this is what's headed your way if you are. we've had about a half a foot of snow here in chicago. the revelry last night was -- let's just say people were a little more bundled up heading to and from the entertainment establishments down here in chicago. and this weather is also packing pretty cold -- very cold temperatures. it's only in the 20s here and we're understanding that it's even going to get colder the next few days, down to around zero, which is, you know, sort of record-setting for this part of the country, even though we're very used to winter here. it's very rare that you get down to around zero, thomas. >> i was going to say obviously we're at the height of the winter season. chicago is no stranger to these types of storms or temperatures, neither is the new england area. i guess the big concern is so much for people getting around and traveling, getting home

after the holiday season and trying to get out and about on this new year's holiday. >> yeah, and they were smart here in chicago last night. they run a bus service on new year's eve where it only costs one cent to ride the public transit here. i think a lot of people decided to leave the car in the garage and use that last night. obviously for the party aspect of it, but of course with the weather aspect, i think it worked very well last night. now, of course it's cold and -- very cold and snowy here and, you know, not too far away from us on the other side of lake michigan there, in ann arbor, there's some 115,000 people sitting out enjoying this balmy weather getting ready to watch the winter classic nhl hockey game that's going to be starting in just a couple of hours from now, i think, thomas. >> i know it's fascinating to see how they set that field up and how they transformed it. i saw this realtime imagery all sped up how they were able to transform and it's going to be great. yes, they will be bundled up and probably have some drinks to keep them warm too as they watch

that. kevin tibbles live in chicago. great to see you, buddy. happy new year. >> see you, thomas. coming up, we're going to get into a little foreign policy. what is on the horizon in 2014, especially in the middle east, and now concerns in russia as we ramp up to the olympics. stick around, we're back with more after this. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. i don't have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps.com you can print real u.s. postage for all your letters and packages. i have exactly the amount of postage i need,

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secretary of state john kerry begins the new year with a fresh new push for peace talks between israel and the palestinian territories. kerry leaves for jerusalem and ramallah today to meet with israeli prime minister benjamin net yanyahu and mahmoud abbas. republican congressman robert pettinger just returned from the region after examining what he calls the unintended consequences of president obama's newly signed nuclear deal with iran. the congressman joins me to discuss his findings. congressman, i want to point you

the our officially the first member of congress to join msnbc in 2014, so welcome and happy new year. you have this dubious distinction. >> thank you, thomas. it's a pleasure to be with you. happy new year to you. >> thank you, sir. so let's talk about this deal specifically and where we stand, the u.s., in line with britain, france, russia, china and ge germany and in exchange this temporary sanction relief. you just met with world leaders including israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. so tell us about your findings there and what you call these unintended consequences. >> well, what has happened is the agreement that was negotiated by the iranians frankly puts them in a very positive situation. we are not allowed to go but to only the 17 approved sites. when i say "we" that's international atomic energy agency. and they can only go to those 17 sites.

the rest of the country is wide open. it really begs the question of how much accountability to we really have in terms of their compliance. i met as well with the heads -- the head of the international atomic energy agency in vienna and they confirmed this. i said is this a concern to you? they said absolutely, of course it is. so i think -- i wish for the best but, frankly, you know, you ask the question about iran and their intentions. they have some of the greatest oil reserves in the world. they have one nuclear power plant now. they say they need nine more. i would ask the first question, why do they need it? what's the civil use for these additional needs of expanding the nuclear capacities? right now they have not -- >> one thing i wanted to say -- >> they haven't -- >> i wanted to say, though, the criticism that you don't hold back on your website. i want to make sure that people see what is on your website. if i can just pull a quote from it. you say civilization may well hang in the balance by the well

intentioned but deathly miscalculated diplomatic efforts of president obama and secretary kerry. nuclear proliferation in the middle east would be the ultimate unintended consequence. so as you talk about this, and this is obviously a baby step diplomatically in trying to take care of iran's nuclear intentions, but what would your alternative be? what would your alternative strategy have been? >> well, number one, saudi arabia, turkey, egypt have all stated their intentions to commit themselves to nuclear armament. this is a very serious problem. all of them have expressed these real concerns. it's a concern to the prime minister netanyahu, it's a concern to every leader that we met with. and i have met with the heads of state in qatar, in uae and egypt, in jerusalem.

every one of them recognized we have a common foe and that's islamic terrorism. we have an islamic terrorist state in iran. they have absolutely no credibility in terms of the last 30 years in their funding for islamic terrorists. they are the primary factor right now behind hezbollah in syria today. so i think you have to look at the real validity of what they say that they're intending to do. if we're only allowed to go to 17 places -- >> but as you bring that up, you're talking about international terrorism on a grander scale here and saying that these ghost efforts that are going on behind the scenes are somehow comparable to these front end diplomatic efforts that we're watching now through the work of president obama and secretary kerry. so is it possible to conflate those two in doing a deal like this in front of the world and having counter parts like russia and germany signing on but knowing those valid points that

you bring up? >> russia does not want iran to have nuclear capacities. there's no country in the middle east that does. this is an issue that's being pressed by our administration. it's void of any accountability and real credibility in terms of are they in compliance. and what you have now are other countries who publicly stated their intentions for nuclear armament. that is nuclear proliferation. and that will bring the whole world into a greater sense of urgency and a crisis, as we look at the greatest problems we have in the world in the middle east. and you've taken the entire situation and expanded that concern of nuclear proliferation. so i think this is wishful, it's hopeful, i think it's a rush to try to do an agreement. but as i met with the international atomic energy agency in vienna, and their

leadership, they confirmed with me that, yes, we do have a problem in iran that we cannot go to the rest of the country to investigate what they're doing. there was no accountability for them to reduce their centrifuges, 16,000, why do they need that many. their uranium, their plutonium, they have economic benefits, $7 billion of economic capacity that we've given them. so where is it that we're going to find a real solution? i think had we kept the pressure on iran as we had before, that's where we had found success. and that pressure has been removed. every one of our allies or partners in the middle east said keep the pressure on iran. and i agree with them. >> we'll have to wait and see exactly the details that come out of secretary kerry's trip. congressman robert pittenger thanks for coming on and you get the dubious privilege of being the first member of congress to

be on msnbc this year. coming up, high times in the high country. color wakes and abates for the new year. i did not write this tease. we're going to check in with our green thumb in the rocky mountain state straight ahead. do you know what we're talking about? they're selling pot now legally in colorado. yeah. . do you think that marijuana should be legalized? >> i wouldn't go that far. but what i think is that at this point washington and colorado, you've seen the voters speak on this issue. and as it is, you know, the federal government has a lot to do when it comes to criminal prosecutions. it does not make sense from a priorization point of view to focus on recreational drug users in a state that has already said under state law that's legal.

i want to bring you up to speed on this one. we've been monitoring this news coming to us out of minneapolis. rescue crews are responding to a possible building explosion. this happened in a three-story residential building on cedar avenue south, leaving at least a dozen people injured. several were taken to the hospital. police believe all residents of that build have now been accounted for. of course we're going to continue to monitor that situation, bring you new details when we get them. also a quick note on this new year eve day about former first lady barbara bush who is resting this morning in a houston hospital. the 88-year-old wife of president george h.w. bush and mother of president george w. bush is being treated for respiratory-related illness at houston methodist hospital. now, according to a family statement, mrs. bush is reportedly in great spirits and has received visits from her family, including her husband,

and we certainly do wish her a very happy new year and a speedy recovery to boot. all right, so straight ahead coming up, we're going to head to colorado for more than day one of selling legal marijuana. but that isn't the only new law for this new year around the country. we're going to dig into some of those. stick around. i'm randy, and i quit smoking with chantix. as a police officer, i've helped many people in the last 23 years, but i needed help in quitting smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix reduced the urge for me to smoke. it actually caught me by surprise. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking, or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental-health problems,

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it's turning out to be a very happy new year's day for some in the state of colorado. they're blazing into 2014 as the first state in the country to allow legal recreational marijuana sales. and they wasted for time getting started either. as many as 30 stores, many of them in denver, opened their doors at 8:00 a.m. rocky mountain time. nbc's gabe gutierrez is in denver for us now. gabe, as we have seen, now that the sun is up, wow, the lines

have really started to form there, so people are ready to rock and roll and bring out 2014 by legally buying pot. but talk about the regulation, the restrictions that go along with this. >> reporter: that's right, thomas. we'll get to that in just a minute. first of all, i think you really need to see this line. it's been growing for the past hour or so. legal recreational marijuana sales started here, as you mentioned, at 8:00 a.m. local time. the first person to buy recreational pot here in denver, it was selected by the campaign of amendment 64. they picked an iraq war veteran with ptsd to demonstrate that the people buying marijuana in colorado aren't just the stereotype, the stoners that everybody might think about. so that was the first person that bought pot. but we've seen long lines at dispensaries all throughout denver this morning. there is a lot of people watching this throughout the country. we've also seen a lot of people coming from other different states.

we spoke with somebody this morning who was in town from georgia. there was another family that came here that drove here yesterday, all the way from georgia as well. there's a lot of questions about the regulations. as we've been discussing, the federal government still views the sale of marijuana as a crime, but they said they won't prosecute that in the state of colorado. a lot of people think you can just light up anywhere now in colorado. that's not the case. you cannot light up in public, although there is some debate about what exactly public and what is private. you can't be high while you're driving, of course, and police will be on the lookout for that, although they won't be on the lookout for possession anymore. but there is some question about how all this will be enforced. of course you can't take this pot to the denver airport. it's banned there. you can't take it across state lines. so there's still a lot of questions here about how all this will play out in colorado. other states will be watching as well. it should be interesting. i can tell you for right now

this morning, we've seen quite a large response. the lines are growing, pardon the pun. >> and while you talk about the lessons that still need to be learned about what it means to sell this legally inside of the state of colorado, there are certain people there in elected office that are looking at this based on just tax revenue, and what that's going to mean to the state. explain that portion. >> reporter: well, colorado, you know, the supporters say this is going to mean -- this is going to be a huge deal for colorado. they're expecting about $67 million a year in extra tax revenue due to the sale of recreational marijuana. much of that will be set aside for schools. now, marijuana opponents say, listen, there's going to be other costs in terms of long-term addiction to drugs and this is going to attract the wrong type of tourists to colorado. that there's going to be the wrong type of tourists in the ski resorts that were family friendly. now colorado is going to be seen as the pot capital of the nation. but the supporters say, listen, this is going to mean big money,

big business, it's going to be a lot of jobs for this state. so again, this is something that's going to need to be looked at over the next months and years. >> i don't want to cast stereotypes on colorado because people probably think if they have been to boulder they have probably seen -- well, anyway, gabe, tell me -- go ahead. >> reporter: you mentioned boulder. they're taking a wait-and-see approach about this. and also you think anybody -- that all of colorado is for this. it's true, voters did approve this. but there are certain municipalities, like colorado springs, that said they are not allowing the sale of recreational marijuana in those specific municipalities, so this isn't happening everywhere in colorado. but as you can see in denver, quite a huge response. >> i want to keep this very mature, but can we have the camera pan over to the funnel cake stand? is there a line there? >> reporter: actually, yeah, if the camera pans over to the doughnuts and the funnel cakes, i don't see a huge line over there, but as you can see people

are keeping warm. it was snowing quite a bit here a little while ago, but that didn't seem to stop the people from coming out. but yeah, if they get hungry, there's funnel cakes here. >> there's funnel cakes so we've got that established. gabe gutierrez. gabe, thank you, my friend. happy new year to you. stay out of trouble, okay? stay out of trouble. >> happy new year to you, thomas. legalized recreational pot in colorado is not the only new law to take effect today. if you are one of the two million americans who purchased health insurance through the affordable care act, your coverage begins today and unlike a very unproductive congress, state lawmakers from coast to coast were busy passing 40,000 new laws on anything from toll booths to tanning beds. joining me to discuss some of the more notable ones is white house reporter for the "washington post" david yakamora and political reporter for "time" zeke miller. happy new year to both of you. let's talk about where we stand

on the minimum wage issue and we know that in 13 different states, they have taken this on on their own by raising the minimum wage. california on track to be the highest in the country raising the minimum wage there to $9 in july and then to $10 by 2016. david, that's great news for roughly two and a half million people, low income american workers who are going to see pay increases. how much do you think that other states are going to be looking at these 13 states as leaders of this conversation and how they can maybe jump on board? >> thomas, i think there is a lot of eyes and attention on this. there's going to be more so because as you mentioned the president and democrats in congress are going to push this. income inequality is something president obama said will be one of his top agenda items here in 2014.

again you have this political divide and i think the white house is really going to look to ramp up the pressure on republicans on this issue because they do recognize the populous value of this and it also has a way to take some attention away from the health care issues as they continue to go through some hiccups. let's stay in california on the west coast pause we look at the city of l.a. kicking in 2014 with its ban on plastic bags and shoppers need to bring their own or pay 10 cents for paper bags. environmentalists love this law but not everybody is a fan of this. what's your response to how l.a. will be a test kitchen for this type of thing? >> this is something that's been dealt with state by state and city by city here in washington, for instance, you go to the

whole foods and it's the five-cent bag fee and they'll sell you the dollar reusable one. you're going to see that in more and more municipalities, it's catching on. again, we have the business advocates saying this raises prices on consumers. it's not great and then you have other business owners that say we don't have to stop bags because people are bringing their own bags and reduces the workload. it's a trend people are looking to see what will happen out in l.a., but, you know, if people don't want it, it won't survive outside of -- outside of l.a. most likely and maybe it will come to a city near you, maybe not. but that's going to be something that's driven by consumer -- you know, consumer response. >> it's such a simple thing when you think about it and the amount of those plastic bags that add up from the people that are just going everyday shopping to get little things and how easy it is to take your own bag to the store, reusable things. i want to point out this to everybody in illinois. we've got two law that say we

need to mention there. the state is going to be part of publishing names of the drivers who stiff toll booths. so if you go cruising through the tollbooths and you're not paying, your name will be public knowledge. meanwhile if you're under the age of 18 years old, you're not going to be allowed to use tanning beds. david, what type of effect do you think this is going to have in their state? obviously they're trying to take a look at what it means for k s kids. i know when i was growing up, getting ready for prom, going to a tanning bed. >> i've never been to a tanning bed, i'm sorry to say. but this is something the government is trying to step in and maoderate for those parents that this do

the 50 cents and take longer to go through, i would always, you know, recommend the smart pass and get you much faster. >> exactly, easy pass is the best way to go. >> absolutely. how embarrassing to get your name in the paper finally and because you're on a list of the people who didn't pay the 35-cent toll. i know tolls are rising and is annoying, i would recommend paying them and keep out of that >> shift to a more serious topic, one i know we have all covered and continue to cover in 2014 and that's gun reform. we have the state of connecticut and it's new gun control laws in the aftermath of what happened there the school shooting in newtown and now includes this mandatory registration of all assault weapons and large magazine, ammunition magazines bought before april of twitter. the law also creates this registry of parolees whose crimes involved a weapon. zeke, do you think more straits going to look at connecticut and -- is this appetite, 90% in the country had an appetite for gun reform, at least when it

comes to registration. do you think that states are going to look at this and be able to tuesday as a catalyst for more sensible gun control laws on the state level? >> well, certainly this law was sort of -- game out of the newtown shooting, the school shooting a little bit more than a year ago and that -- you know, allowed that state to pass one of the toughest gun control laws, regimes in the nation. you saw a few other states put them -- sort of push through other gun reforms after that shooting and that really did change the national conversation. and it put gun control back on the front burner in the national conversation for a while. and often, when it comes to -- when it comes to gun control, it comes to shootings in general, they are in the news for a couple of weeks a couple of months, at most and they find their way to the back burner and so the impetus, the dish know, people trying to get these laws through, that enthusiasm dies, goes away and that's probably what, you know, certainly is what happened here in washington

on the national level. >> yeah. >> that legislation fell apart in april. so you know, it's something that will, maybe in connecticut, it will stay there but probably not go too much farther. >> one thing, the resolve of the sandy hook families and willingness to stay out front and turn their tragedy into something more positive so that other families don't have to go through it is certainly something to contend with as this conversation launches into 2013. gentlem -- into 2014. going to wrap things up for markers very happy new year to all of you. hopefully having a relaxing new year's day at home. see you back here tomorrow at 11 a.m. eastern time. brian shactman is going to be picking up things next. we leave you with pictures of new york city hall where we are moments away from mayor bill de blasio's swearing in with the help of former president bill clinton-a huge crowd on hand. going to have much more in this next hour on msnbc. stick around. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him,

he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap.

>> good afternoon, afternoon, i am brian schakter. it's the first day of the bill deblasio hour. there is not much to look at now. we have thousands of supporters. we will see the official inauguration of mayor depalassio. of course, you can see the pictures there and former president bill clinton will be there as well earlier this morning in an intmeat issing, mayor deblasio was sworn in just after midnight. >> i want to say to all of you how grateful we are. from the beginning, this has been our family together, reaching out to the people of the this city to make a change that we all needed. thank you for having brought is us to this moment. >> he will be joined by fellow supporters, harley bellafonte

and bill clinton. he will talk about his divided city he spoke of so often in this campaign. we want to ask, he's got the keys to the mansion, what will he two first? he's the first democratic mayor in two decades to answer that question news deputy political director and he works with the mayor every single saturday for a long time. i want to start with you, dominico. most people can't name who he ran against, joe lohta. is that a mandate for change? >> well, there is no question that he won because of the bloomberg name and how, you know, there has been some zaf dissatisfaction. he represented something completely different a. different new york that he wants to go in that direction with this, you know, two cities that

he talks about and the income in equality. which i think really touched a lot of people throughout the city. you know, and i think, though, crime is going to be, is always the major issue in new york. there is a reason democrats have been out of office. people don't feel safe walking the streets. they will not want to vote for somebody who represents something different and his policy, we will see how they shake out. stop and frisk, however you want to put i. how that policy plays out, how removing that, how putting in bill bratton and whether or not crime stays down, that will tell you a whole lot more about whether he has a successful mayorship. >> joe, whether it be stop and frisk or income and inequality. what the world does as mayor bloomberg would say seemed to follow. you sat down with him. >> every week. >> you know the guy. give us some insight as to where

you think he will be like as a leader, where he will start? >> he is committed to his philosophy. it is a liberal again ga. he makes no bones about that. he campaigned as an aggress i. we are talking about pre-k programs for everybody, raising the minimum wage, providing paid sick time to people who don't have none. those are the kind of issues he will look to. i think also he feels very strongly about changing the way the new york school systems are run. >> tax, he can't have that much of an impact on, right? >> that's the problem. he can not raise it without the new york state legislature and governor cuomo. cuomo has political aspirations in 2016. he's not going to agree to any tax increase. so how he funds all of this is the key to his success. >> you know, dominico, i don't know if you saw the piece in the "new york times." i was fascinated by it. it's a real progressive thing

addressing inquality, gavin newsom, when he was mayor of san francisco, all the progressive things he did in that city and he said, basically, the world is marching deblasio for what he gets done. do you think whether it be education to try to close the gap between the top and the bottom. do you think the queue will be taken by the rest of the country? >> well, i think, definitely the biggest issue as joe points out, he didn't push 'purse strings. if he can't do that, he has to figure out a way to work with governor cuomo. cuomo, obviously, a democrat, has a lot of priorities. especially something like universal pre-k, you could see something like that get done in the city, probably have some union support for. that you know, but i do think, though, as this issue of income and equality is something as a touchstone certainly throughout the rest of the country. we seen income gaps that are at

record levels. i can tell you as somebody that grew up in queens, my dad was a gym teacher. you know, there is always this tape in your head of sort of the rich have more and not, you know, necessarily, you know, looking out for you and you've got to work hard and get what you get. the problem, though, again for depalassio, he wants to try to turn that route. he has to figure out a way to politically get something done with the state legislature. >> you have to be honest. you go to penn station at 6:00 a.m., you see all the workers help this city run come into the city, they can't afford to live in the city. manhattan is safe if a lot of reasons truthfully, so many wealthy people live in the core of the city. that's something if are you not a tourist, it's easy to see if are you a tourist. it's difficult to see. >> i want to talk about the protection of the city, joe, for a second ear. we've talked all about how aggressive and liberal he s. he gets mr. bratton to run the

nypd. he went through prominence through guiliani, is this a signal he maybe won't be as aggressive as some people thing or does he have to keep the status quo? >> i think he will be a little more pragmatic as people think. he will have to with the issue with the budgetary constraints. i think the appointment of bratton is aal. >> that alienated a huge portion of his base because they tied into guiliani, guiliani has terrible communications with the minority community. i think what deblasio did is he found the guy to keep the city safe. you got to be safe. that's the number one issue for new yorkers. the other is i think he has to confront is how do you deal with all the contracts that need renegotiated? mayor bloomberg says i will not give you anything. i am not laying anybody off. >> that's tough with deblasio. >> there is an interesting point, in his primary election,

he did not have union support a. vast majority of support. the teachers union, one union, 1199, that's i. so he's not really beholden to all of these unions. >> water interesting, you could say then, that an argument of the unions losing a little bit of power when it comes to getting people elected? i want to sort of expand that. the democrats outnumber the republicans in the city i think 6 to 1, yet it's been 19, 20 years since there has been a democratic mayor. what does that say about the view of democrats in the city? it seems like with governor, it's the same thing, we have a lot of success with republican governors, success of republican maresch they're not doing it well maybe for the president of the united states. >> it's two totally separate things, right? the president of the united states, you are running on a set of issue, of policy issues, right? in new york, you know, like we have been talking about safety, governance, those things are more important than some of the

more ideological debates that we have nationally. of course, this economic poply. is coming to, you know, something in new york where you are going to see if that can get through, but, you know, as far as the union support goes, unions did support other primary opponents, if deblasio wants do get re-elected. he will feed their support. having gone without a new contract for some years, that's something they will be looking to if he's going to want to get their support for the next round as it goes. >> just to let people foe water going on right now, they are doing the introductions. you saw former president bill clinton being introduced, governor cuomo. you have senator chuck scheduler also on end. you would imagine all the big wigs will be there and when the proceedings begin, we'll bring more of that to you. i want to thank you both. joe bartlett from wror. i sat across the table from him many times without the camera, doing work over there.

we appreciate you coming in. >> it's a pleasure, gave up my seat at the inaugurationing to here. >> it's warmer here. >> it certainly is. >> certainly is. >> we will keep an eye on the events at city hall throughout the entire hour. when there is speaking, president clinton does the oath, we will hopefully have that for you live. coming up on msnbc the first snafk snowstorm is making its way through bound u boston and new york. perhaps weather more fitting for the winter classic at the university of michigan's fieldhouse. you are looking at time lapse photography how they put an nhl rink into a major football state of mind. we are talking 100,000 people in frigid temperatures all to watch the maple leaves and the detroit red wings. we'll be right back.

>> the party is over in time's square, just in time as a sizable winter storm is moving east right now. but the winter weather is going to be a problem in the east the storm already leaving its mark on parts of the mid-west. >> that includes ann arbor, michigan. where the university of michigan stadium, also known as the big house has been transformed into an outside hockey arena for today's winter classic between the toronto maple leaves and the detroit red wings. we want to show you a little more of the time lapse photography. it's pretty amazing how they do it. joining us is the weather channel's chris warren from ann arbor. chris. >> reporter: here at michigan stadium in ann arbor, the stands are starting to fill up while the snow is still coming down. here in ann arbor, the snow started before midnight last fight in 2013 and it is still

going and it is expected to continue. this stadium is called the big house and it's big for a reason. more than 100,000 people are expected for this outdoor hockey game. it's called the winter classic and the winter portion of that is delivering. >> that snow is coming down. it is cold. temperatures are in the 'teens and feels like temperature the wind chill single digits and that's what we're expecting when that puck drops this afternoon for temperatures to stay cold and the snow to continue to come down. the number one concern is getting people here. we're hearing that some of the highways are single file. only one lane opened. so hopefully everybody can get here safely. >> that is a lot of everybody. again, more than 100,000 people expected here, we're still looking at a lot of snow in the mid-west. then the focus changes to the northeast. could see some big significant snowfall throughout portions of the northeast and new england that could disrupt travel on

land atmosphere and in the air the next dup couple days. back to you. >> chris warren, thank you so much. telling you, playing hockey outside with a little wind and snow will be tough. i hope everyone gets there and watches it on msnbc as well. coming up, we welcome a democratic member of congress, it includes extending unemployment benefits. we will head back to new york city where the inauguration is under way for bill deblasio. stay with us.

>> congress left something big out of last month's bipartisan budget deal the renewal of temporary unemployment insurance, which means on december 28, 1.3 million americans saw their benefits expire.

president obama called congress out shortly before christmas at a white house news conference. >> i think we're a better country than that. we don't abandon each other when times are tough. so when congress comes back to work, their first order of business should be making this right. i know a bipartisan group is working on a three month extension of this insurance. they should pass it and i'll sign it right away. >> that three month extension the president mentioned will be introduced by those two pen right there, senators jack reed, a democrat and republican dean when both the senate and house re-convene next week. getting the 60 votes they likely need to pass it and through the house may not be so easy. joining me now is sandy levin, a congressman from michigan, a strong proponent for restoring the benefits. happy new year, sir. >> happy new year to you and all your listeners. >> and viewers, too. unemployment benefit, there is a lot of people that want to bring up minimum wage issue, some want

to bring back the issue of retirement benefits for veterans. how likely do you think the three-month extension can get passed? >> i think it's absolutely essential. as the president said, a million, 300,000 people lost their benefits entirely december 28th and this week another 73,000 people. >> right. >> these are hard working people, lost their jobs through no fault of their own. they're looking for work to pull away their lifeline is a serious mistake for them and for the national economy both. but especially for individuals as they tell their stories, i think more and more of my colleagues are going to be convinced we just have to act. >> i just want to get a stens of your relative confidence that this can get through. >> my confidence grows because i think more and more people are telling their stories individually. a million 3 is a large number.

if they stood shoulder-to-shoulder from the capitol, it would go to lincoln, nebraska. what really is important are these individual stories and a couple weeks ago, we had a panel of six long-term unemployed in michigan. they told their stories. it was so compelling. these are often our middle income family, people who lost their job, they're looking desperately. they send out their applications, their cvs. in some casings they're afraid of age discrimination, so they take even the year of their high school graduation off their cv. they're looking for work tom simply say to them, you are going to lose every cent of your unemployment insurance. >> right. >> a million 3 lost them on december 28th because of the fact i believe we'll have to act and we will. >> i want to ask you quickly. we put up a graphic a second ago. unemployment is down to 7%. the gdp in the previous quota

was 4 plus percent. to play devil's advocate for a minute, obviously, these are people looking for work. these are the people that need help, they're trying to get jobs it's not like they're not doing that. the economy is strong enough we need to start dialing this back. the defense pulling back on its bond buying and maybe the federal government should pull back on programs, too. how do you counter that argument? >> because we've not had since the depression such a high percentage of the unemployed long term. this is a historic difference and so, tow, the economy is getting better, for millions of people, they can't find jobs. >> right. >> it's also bad for the economy because people who receive unemployment insurance, they spend the money and an estimate is if we don't extent this unemployment insurance, the gdp will go down 3 to .4 of 1%. so for the nation entirely, but

for us as individuals, as the president said, we can do better in the united states of america. >> some people even say it's a half a percent on gdp. i want you to listen to an interview that nbc news had with rand palm. then i want you to react to it. >> when i said it's a disservice. i mean it. i am worried about the workers. not that i think they become bad people by being unploild employed longer, the longer they are unemployed the less likely they are to get a job again. >> the real concern are we losings a generation of people in the work force here? >> no. there is that danger. but to pull the uninsurance employment as many have told us and their stories are going to come forth. the president is going to have a meeting with the unemployed next week. so are we in the house. what they're saying is we need our unemployment insurance to look for work. we need it to feed ourselves and our families. we need it in order not to have our mortgage foreclosed. so the notion of rand paul that

this is a disservice, if i might say so, i think he did a disservice to the nation by calling it a disservice to provide this lifeline to 1.3 million, 73,000 more this week, 73,000 more next week. we have to act. >> now i want -- >> it's ethically necessary, economically necessary. >> i want to expand the income and equality the major issue the president has touched on it. new york city is inaugurated a new mayor who talked about new york city being divided into two city, where there is the wealthy an there is the poor. we are looking at live pictures right now of the ceremony and we, of course, when deblasio and president clinton take the stage, we will let you know. congressman levin, how much are you paying attention to what deblasio said and focusing on what he may or may not do? >> very much so. congratulations to him and also

the new mayor of detroit. income equality is a problem. it's growing historically in this country. but going back to unemployment insurance, income inequality is only made worse if we eliminate unemployment insurance. we also have to raise the minimum wage. so this is an issue. but we node to take them one at a time, including the minimum wage and the one that's right in front of us today, next week is this elimination 100% of the unemployment insurance has been lost by 1.3 million and next 84, the next six months, it is estimated 1.9 people. we've had no, no such long-term unemployment in this country since the great depression. so i'm worried about income and equality. what we node to do is to act on these specific issues. >> right. >> and unemployment insurance is surely one of them. >> listen, you've had your opportunity to support that.

i want to sort of pivot towards the affordable caring a and how that sort of weaves into the concept and the conversation of income and equality and what we've talked about with unemployment. >> well the physicals are out. 4 million people have become insured through medicaid and the child health program. 4 million people. another 2 million people are insured through the marketplace federally and state. we are the only nation, industrial nation in the world with 55 million uninsured. so if we talk about income and equality and we should, we have to make sure there is equality of access to health insurance. so this all fits together. unemployment insurance, the wage people are paid and whether or not they have health insurance. my feeling is we've had stumbles. the website didn't work very well to put it mildly.

but i think ten years from now, we are going to look back and say that aca was a historic development like medicare, like medicaid, leak social security. >> too bad are you not back in michigan. i don't think your district is too far from ann arbor, you could have caught that hockey game today. >> i came back to do work. i'm a die hard red wing fan. i used to play hockey at a rink in the winter and this reminds me, the snow in ann arbor of how some of us used to play hockey. >> back in the day. >> i wasn't quite as good as my hero, gordie howe, though. >> not many people are. my dad used to let me take off once a year to play pond hockey. i appreciate that. >> thanks to you, happy new year. >> coming up, we will take you to the high country where retail marijuana, yes, legal weed arrive in the rocky mountain state. and we continue to watch live pictures from new york city's city hall. the inauguration of the new

mayor, bill deblasio. we'll have an update from there. so stay with us. [ male announcer ] this is george. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ [ male announcer ] when you wear dentures you may not know it, but your mouth is under attack. food particles infiltrate and bacteria proliferate. ♪ protect your mouth, with fixodent. the adhesive helps create a food seal defense for a clean mouth and kills bacteria for fresh breath. ♪ fixodent, and forget it. ♪ i cthis year aloneore places offi hit new york...ist. and texas! see, hotwire checks the competition's rates every day... so they can guarantee their low hotel prices.

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>> you are looking at a like picture of the inauguration ceremony for new york city's new mayor bill deblasio. that ceremony, of course, follows last night's traditional ball drop at rock center. we are welcoming in 2014. try as we might in the big apple. the city of dubai that broke a record. take a look as we head to break at the guinness book of world records says now is the largest fireworks display ever. 500,000 fireworks. six minutes long. ten months of the planning. >> that is how you welcome in 2014. [ music playing ] in the nation, sometimes bad things happen. add brand new belongings from nationwide insurance

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. >> it is green wednesday in colorado as in green grass, although, i feel like only our parents called it grass anymore. the state became the first in the nation to gen legal recreational marijuana sales as many as 30 stores, many in the denver area opened their doors at 8:00 a.m. local time today. there has already been plenty of shall we say buzz. if i make any more references like that, rocky mountain high, i will end up on gabe stewart. gabe gutierrez is live in the hi mile high city. gabe, you got to have fun with it. you talked to these people. are they going to oklahoma to have a party? what are they there for? >> reporter: well, they're here, obviously to boy pot, after new year's eve. let me step out of the way. show you, step out of the way here to show you this line. people have been showing up the last few hours. as you mentioned the recreational pot went on sale at

8:00 local time and we're here at the 3d cannabis center in denver. one of more than a dozen disari dispenseares. kel see, why are you here? >> to say i bought it on the first day, it was legal and actually for sale. >> reporter: some are calling it a historic day not only for colorado but the country. how significant is today? >> it's pretty significant. i think that once, you know, we go through the test run of it and other states see that it's okay for it to be legal, actually see the benefits of it. a lot of other states will be falling in lean with us. so. >> reporter: thank you so much for talking with me. brian, this is a huge deal for colorado. they're expecting tens of

millions of dollars. 60 to 70 million in sales tax. much of that will be set aside for building schools. she mentioned the jobs, you know, this is a huge industry and as you can see behind me, there is quite a demand for me on january 1st. >> obviously, there was a conen the gent of voters against it. no protesters, no pushback. anything on the negative sides today? >> yeah, as we set this center, we have not seen protesters. we have gone through several of them throughout the morning. so far it seems to be a celebratory atmosphere. people see this coming for a long time. the culture here in colorado, medical marijuana has been legal for quite some time. now they see this as the next step. while colorado is the first one to take that step. walk state later on this spring, you could expect them to start legal recreational marijuana sales. the thinking here is that there is a shift in this country. at least the way the supporters see it. again, there is opposition. many other people feel it will

attract the wong tourists to colorado. this will create a whole host of other problems with regard to drug trafficking and drivers being on the road high. police say, yeah, they're not searching for people's possession anymore, but they will be checking for this. they will be on the lookout, do road side tests to make sure people aren't just lighting up. that's another points. a lot of people think you can light up anywhere in colorado. that is not the case. you cannot light up in public, brian. >> i want to ask you quickly since you were on the ground there, what's the demographic of the people waiting in line? is it mostly young males, young male and female split? are there any 80-year-old grandmothers who couldn't get the medical marijuana? who is there? >> reporter: we have seen people from all walks of life here. i will step out of the way and have our cameraman pan around. you look around, you see people from all walks of life, from different race, different socioeconomic background. and we spoke with one father and son that drove all the way from

georgia. the first person to buy the recreational marijuana here is in a photo op orchestrated by the backers of amendment 64. it was actually an iraq war veteran very much behind the campaign around what supporters in colorado want to get across, at least according to them, this isn't just a group of stoners that wants this to happen. it's people from all walks of life. that's perhaps why they chose that iraq war veteran with ptsd to be that first quote/unquote buyer. >> although, i'm sure there is a lot of other different kind of people, the person behind you with a beard and glasses, anyway, we appreciate the time, gabe gutierrez on assignment in colorado. we appreciate i. happy new year. >> reporter: happy new year. >> coming up, we'll take out the crystal ball. time for political predictions for 2014 as we ring in the new year at 30 rock. as we go to break, another look

at city hall where newly mayor bill deblasio is about to be sworn in by former president bill clinton. stay with us. i'm nathan and i quit smoking with chantix. when my son was born, i remember, you know, picking him up and holding him against me. it wasn't just about me anymore. i had to quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. chantix didn't have nicotine in it, and that was important to me. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop chantix and see your doctor right away, as some could be life threatening.

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>> we continue to follow the inauguration of democrat bill deblasio. he's the first democratic mayor in the city of new york since 1994 and mayor bloomberg said quite a bit as new york goes, so goes the world. and this was true in a lot of smoking regulation, urban planning, safety issues and so this is why we focus on it because as a self proclaimed progressive, bill deblasio has

mapped out a very classic first term agenda income and equality. which happens to be a major topic for president obama he wants to tackle in his second term t. question is, what can the president get done? congressional elections are 11 months away. they have a senate majority stake in those elections as well. >> i think 2014 needs to be a year of action. we got to build on the progress. we've pains takingly made over these last five years with respect to our economy and joining the middle class a better opportunity and that's going to be where i focus all of my efforts in the years ahead. >> let's gaze into our 2014 crystal ball. we have a triple box here, that's awesome. domenica montnara. joanna summers. thanks, guys, for coming on today. >> happy new year.

>> i'll start with you, i want to start with the president in terms of the agenda and we had congressman levin from michigan on a few minutes ago talk about the unemployment benefits, whether it's minimum wage. how much do you think on this particular agenda of income and equality can the president get done? >> i think immediately the first thing the senate is going to want to work on is getting the minimum wage you know increase passed and the unemployment benefits. bhoet of thoboth of those issue levin talked about. that's a key for this president. i did a chart on the minimum wayne, for example. going back to 1938 when it was first instituted. when you adjust it for inflation, you know it peaked in 1968 a. little more than $10 an hour. even though it's maintained a marginal increase over time, it hasn't kept with inflation. i think that's one reason why

you are seeing democrats push on this to try to get something more for this that, you know, as most people can't live. who can live on 15,000, $800 a year which is what it is. >> most of the minimum wage jobs, they were high school kids trying to find work, now, people trying to support a family. that seems like the minimum wage is one issue going into an election the republicans might have a tough time pushing back strongly on. >> well, i'm disinclined to think they're not going to push back what i'm trying to say is i think they will push back. i think this is sort of the republican mantra, this kind of this inc. is job killing. i think it's perhaps going to be able to get to the senate. i think it's going to have a very difficult time in the house. i think that that is going to be the case with unemployment benefits, too, although that one, the real factor here is politics and both of those issues are going to be exploited by the democrats. >> joanna, we have a debt ceiling fight, believe it or not

coming up in month. t. i want to hear how both parties are sort of positioning their arguments. >> no, we're not going to negotiate for congress to pay bills that it has accrued. >> we as a caucus along with our center counterparts are going to meet and discuss what it is we want out of the debt limit. we don't want nothing out of this debt limit. >> here we go again. who do you think? what will come out of this one? >> you are absolutely right, indeed. there will be another big stalemate. if you noticed, congress has been great to wait to the last minute to get anything done. congress is growing ever more traff fra fracticious. so this is going to be a up to the last minute fight to figure out how to resolve the country's fiscal problems. i think that will dominate for a couple weeks as lawmakers return. >> bob, i said this before, i'm

on "morning joe" quite bit, joe scarborough talks about winning elections. this strategy has not been a winning strategy. it's a little surprising they are talking about wanting concessions in a debate they already lost the last time they tried this. >> you know, you talk about the election. we will be talking more about that in a couple of moments. first of all, i happen to think the congressional session is the background music for the election, which i think is the mane story this year. number one, number two, i think the republicans are being counselled, don't do anything stupid. that's really the democrat's only chance to maintain control in either house of congress. >> dominico, what down of john boehner? >> a tough calm. last year was brutal for him as he balanced the caucus in the house. what do you think of his year coming up? >> a lot of things a lot of people will look at is immigration reform. he did hire a pretty important legislative aid on immigration known in the immigration community. i think he wants to get

something passed on that. i think, though, he's not going to take up a big comprehensive bill and still the term we all will be talking about that is the key is "path to citizenship." you know, is the administration going to be comfortable passing a series of smaller bills that stop short of giving people citizenship. i think that will be a tough thing for democrats to want to try to swallow where you'd create really a permanent second class of citizens that would need a potential fix later on. >> go ahead, bob. >> there is a back story here, too. >> that is that in his home congressional district, you have a bunch of the tea party types lining up to possibly give him a primary fight. >> primary fights will be brutal on the republican side, especially. joanna, sense we are talking about the clintons with bill deblasio's faug racing in new york. people on the other side are trying to stake-out benghazi or health care as a way to combat 2016. what do you think as she

obviously tries to position herself for 2016? she will have to deal with in the new year. >> both benghazi and health care will be huge issues for hillary clinton if she decides to run. if you look in the new york times, there have been conservative critics that said that piece was run to give hillary clinton cover. so a lot to look forward to there certainly she will have to discuss if topics out in the news. >> i want to talk about ted cruz a second, bob. i want to talk about how he flaims frames the government shutdown. take a quick listen. >> i think it was absolutely a mistake for president obama an harry reed to force a government shutdown. >> you know john boehner will say this is a republican shutdown. >> i can't understand what other people say. every day the media reported. >> come on. . >> bob, he's a smart guy, though. >> well, yeah, but he knows how to push "the" button, the bun

that pleases republican, that is to blame pedia. in this particular case what do you expect him to say? i blew it? of course, he's not going to say. dominico, what's the feeling apong republicans in d.c. on mr. cruz right now? >> you know, he's kind of an enig ma in a lot of ways. you wonder if he's a man on an island, looking out for ted cruz, does he want a tv show? i think it's pretty clear he will run for president if 2014. separa snad leadership is not pleased with him. he is taking the place of jim demint. jim demint is doing to mitch mcconnell from the inside, now ted cruz has been on that side of things now, too. you know, i don't think mitch mcconnell, you know, really is in love with ted cruz, but mitch mcconnell has his primary and he, you know, needs to at least pacify some of the members like

ted cruz. >> bob, i want to ask you quickly and put it to joanna as well, since we are talking about the fork city mayor. i made the argument at the top of the block, it is a national story. is it something na people are paying attention to, bob, outside of the big apple? >> well, is there an outside the big apple? >> here it is the center of the universe. >> yeah, sometimes i think the networks don't think there is, but, of course, we in washington probably have the same view. but it is a laboratory test of various progressive ideals, when it comes to running a city and by extension, it will slop over into national politics. >> joanne fa, any thoughts on that? >> this is absolutely a story we are paying attention to at politico. certainly after mayor bloomberg's long term, seeing what exactly how player deblasio's term revolves, a very political story and as bob put it. a test case for progressive ideals as we move into campaign season aglen again. >> dominico, i want to ask you

about the clinton legacy and the family tree pressing, what parts, in arkansas with deblasio are most important to them? >> well, bill deblasio has been involved with the clintons for quite some time helping run hillary clinton's campaign, even date bagging to the early 2000s. so this is something that the clinton, they want him to do well. terry mcauliffe. remember, not many people thought he was going to win in virginia. he did win there. you know, this is, it's another wrinkle in this 2016 story line. i don't know how much new york is really going to matter to whether or not hillary clinton can eventually when on her own. but it is sort of a branching out of more of the clinton family so to speak. >> and it's not just a question about whether hillary is going to run. the other question is, when will chelsea run for president? >> you are looking at by the way cynthia nixon on the left side

of your screen from "sex in the city" fame, joanna, i don't know if you have any thoughts on this, mayor bloomberg is a national figure. he's spent a dozen years in new york city and crafted a lot of social policy and ran the city after 9-11 from a national perspective. what is his profile and what is his legacy? >> he has a significant high legacy, obviously, being the mayor in charge of new york city after 9-11 as you mentioned is a huge legacy in and of itself. certainly a lot of the policy is new york city has become a test case for smaller cities all across the current. so he does have a long and lasting legacy. frankly, i would not want to be the person filling his footsteps. >> they said that also with guiliani in terms of what he had to follow when he came into office, mayor bloomberg. dominico, i will leave it with this. when it comes to the political

landscape in new york city, down we're making too much of a big deal of this national look into this world? i mean, do you agree with what mayor bloomberg said about the world following suit with new york? >> you know, i don't know. i think that, you notice, new york is important in a lot of ways as the major metropolitan area in the country. but you know, bloomberg, what strikes me, he spent $650 million of his own money to win, to win, to become mayor and to spend on some of his own causes. a lot of bloomberg terms seem like it was all intended for bloomberg in a lot of ways. you know, there are other cities that are of big importance, today the mayor and droid is being sworn in as well. a city that's, you know, headed, has been in bankruptcy and needs righting of its management. certainly an old american story there. i think new york is important. but there is other places, too. >> right. as bob said, people here think

it's the center of the universe. bob, joanna, thanks for being game. i threw a few curveballs. we appreciate it. that wraps it up for me. we hope you have a healthy and happy new year's day. you are watching msnbc. yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. .

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